Chronological Plan

¹Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said:

²“Shall the one who contends with the Almighty correct Him? He who rebukes God, let him answer it.”

³Then Job answered the LORD and said:

⁴“Behold, I am vile; What shall I answer You? I lay my hand over my mouth.

⁵Once I have spoken, but I will not answer; Yes, twice, but I will proceed no further.”

⁶Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind, and said:

⁷“Now prepare yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer Me:

⁸“Would you indeed annul My judgment? Would you condemn Me that you may be justified?

⁹Have you an arm like God? Or can you thunder with a voice like His?

¹⁰Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor, And array yourself with glory and beauty.

¹¹Disperse the rage of your wrath; Look on everyone who is proud, and humble him.

¹²Look on everyone who is proud, and bring him low; Tread down the wicked in their place.

¹³Hide them in the dust together, Bind their faces in hidden darkness.

¹⁴Then I will also confess to you That your own right hand can save you.

¹⁵“Look now at the behemoth, which I made along with you; He eats grass like an ox.

¹⁶See now, his strength is in his hips, And his power is in his stomach muscles.

¹⁷He moves his tail like a cedar; The sinews of his thighs are tightly knit.

¹⁸His bones are like beams of bronze, His ribs like bars of iron.

¹⁹He is the first of the ways of God; Only He who made him can bring near His sword.

²⁰Surely the mountains yield food for him, And all the beasts of the field play there.

²¹He lies under the lotus trees, In a covert of reeds and marsh.

²²The lotus trees cover him with their shade; The willows by the brook surround him.

²³Indeed the river may rage, Yet he is not disturbed; He is confident, though the Jordan gushes into his mouth,

²⁴Though he takes it in his eyes, Or one pierces his nose with a snare.

¹“Can you draw out Leviathan with a hook, Or snare his tongue with a line which you lower?

²Can you put a reed through his nose, Or pierce his jaw with a hook?

³Will he make many supplications to you? Will he speak softly to you?

⁴Will he make a covenant with you? Will you take him as a servant forever?

⁵Will you play with him as with a bird, Or will you leash him for your maidens?

⁶Will your companions make a banquet of him? Will they apportion him among the merchants?

⁷Can you fill his skin with harpoons, Or his head with fishing spears?

⁸Lay your hand on him; Remember the battle— Never do it again!

⁹Indeed, any hope of overcoming him is false; Shall one not be overwhelmed at the sight of him?

¹⁰No one is so fierce that he would dare stir him up. Who then is able to stand against Me?

¹¹Who has preceded Me, that I should pay him? Everything under heaven is Mine.

¹²“I will not conceal his limbs, His mighty power, or his graceful proportions.

¹³Who can remove his outer coat? Who can approach him with a double bridle?

¹⁴Who can open the doors of his face, With his terrible teeth all around?

¹⁵His rows of scales are his pride, Shut up tightly as with a seal;

¹⁶One is so near another That no air can come between them;

¹⁷They are joined one to another, They stick together and cannot be parted.

¹⁸His sneezings flash forth light, And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

¹⁹Out of his mouth go burning lights; Sparks of fire shoot out.

²⁰Smoke goes out of his nostrils, As from a boiling pot and burning rushes.

²¹His breath kindles coals, And a flame goes out of his mouth.

²²Strength dwells in his neck, And sorrow dances before him.

²³The folds of his flesh are joined together; They are firm on him and cannot be moved.

²⁴His heart is as hard as stone, Even as hard as the lower millstone.

²⁵When he raises himself up, the mighty are afraid; Because of his crashings they are beside themselves.

²⁶Though the sword reaches him, it cannot avail; Nor does spear, dart, or javelin.

²⁷He regards iron as straw, And bronze as rotten wood.

²⁸The arrow cannot make him flee; Slingstones become like stubble to him.

²⁹Darts are regarded as straw; He laughs at the threat of javelins.

³⁰His undersides are like sharp potsherds; He spreads pointed marks in the mire.

³¹He makes the deep boil like a pot; He makes the sea like a pot of ointment.

³²He leaves a shining wake behind him; One would think the deep had white hair.

³³On earth there is nothing like him, Which is made without fear.

³⁴He beholds every high thing; He is king over all the children of pride.”

¹Then Job answered the LORD and said:

²“I know that You can do everything, And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You.

³You asked, ‘Who is this who hides counsel without knowledge?’ Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand, Things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.

⁴Listen, please, and let me speak; You said, ‘I will question you, and you shall answer Me.’

⁵“I have heard of You by the hearing of the ear, But now my eye sees You.

⁶Therefore I abhor myself, And repent in dust and ashes.”

⁷And so it was, after the LORD had spoken these words to Job, that the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite, “My wrath is aroused against you and your two friends, for you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.

⁸Now therefore, take for yourselves seven bulls and seven rams, go to My servant Job, and offer up for yourselves a burnt offering; and My servant Job shall pray for you. For I will accept him, lest I deal with you according to your folly; because you have not spoken of Me what is right, as My servant Job has.”

⁹So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did as the LORD commanded them; for the LORD had accepted Job.

¹⁰And the LORD restored Job’s losses when he prayed for his friends. Indeed the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before.

¹¹Then all his brothers, all his sisters, and all those who had been his acquaintances before, came to him and ate food with him in his house; and they consoled him and comforted him for all the adversity that the LORD had brought upon him. Each one gave him a piece of silver and each a ring of gold.

¹²Now the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning; for he had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, one thousand yoke of oxen, and one thousand female donkeys.

¹³He also had seven sons and three daughters.

¹⁴And he called the name of the first Jemimah, the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-Happuch.

¹⁵In all the land were found no women so beautiful as the daughters of Job; and their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers.

¹⁶After this Job lived one hundred and forty years, and saw his children and grandchildren for four generations.

¹⁷So Job died, old and full of days.