The Lord’s Whirlwind Answer and the Wisdom of Creation

Job 38

38:1Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind,

38:2“Who is this who darkens counsel by words without knowledge?

38:3Brace yourself like a man, for I will question you, then you answer me!

38:4“Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Declare, if you have understanding.

38:5Who determined its measures, if you know? Or who stretched the line on it?

38:6What were its foundations fastened on? Or who laid its cornerstone,

38:7when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy?

38:8“Or who shut up the sea with doors, when it broke out of the womb,

38:9when I made clouds its garment, and wrapped it in thick darkness,

38:10marked out for it my bound, set bars and doors,

38:11and said, ‘You may come here, but no further. Your proud waves shall be stopped here’?

38:12“Have you commanded the morning in your days, and caused the dawn to know its place,

38:13that it might take hold of the ends of the earth, and shake the wicked out of it?

38:14It is changed as clay under the seal, and presented as a garment.

38:15From the wicked, their light is withheld. The high arm is broken.

38:16“Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep?

38:17Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of the shadow of death?

38:18Have you comprehended the earth in its width? Declare, if you know it all.

38:19“What is the way to the dwelling of light? As for darkness, where is its place,

38:20that you should take it to its bound, that you should discern the paths to its house?

38:21Surely you know, for you were born then, and the number of your days is great!

38:22Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,

38:23which I have reserved against the time of trouble, against the day of battle and war?

38:24By what way is the lightning distributed, or the east wind scattered on the earth?

38:25Who has cut a channel for the flood water, or the path for the thunderstorm,

38:26to cause it to rain on a land where there is no man, on the wilderness, in which there is no man,

38:27to satisfy the waste and desolate ground, to cause the tender grass to grow?

38:28Does the rain have a father? Or who fathers the drops of dew?

38:29Whose womb did the ice come out of? Who has given birth to the gray frost of the sky?

38:30The waters become hard like stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen.

38:31“Can you bind the cluster of the Pleiades, or loosen the cords of Orion?

38:32Can you lead the constellations out in their season? Or can you guide the Bear with her cubs?

38:33Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you establish its dominion over the earth?

38:34“Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover you?

38:35Can you send out lightnings, that they may go? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?

38:36Who has put wisdom in the inward parts? Or who has given understanding to the mind?

38:37Who can count the clouds by wisdom? Or who can pour out the containers of the sky,

38:38when the dust runs into a mass, and the clods of earth stick together?

38:39“Can you hunt the prey for the lioness, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,

38:40when they crouch in their dens, and lie in wait in the thicket?

38:41Who provides for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry to God, and wander for lack of food?

Job 39

39:1“Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears fawns?

39:2Can you count the months that they fulfill? Or do you know the time when they give birth?

39:3They bow themselves. They bear their young. They end their labor pains.

39:4Their young ones become strong. They grow up in the open field. They go out, and don’t return again.

39:5“Who has set the wild donkey free? Or who has loosened the bonds of the swift donkey,

39:6whose home I have made the wilderness, and the salt land his dwelling place?

39:7He scorns the tumult of the city, neither does he hear the shouting of the driver.

39:8The range of the mountains is his pasture. He searches after every green thing.

39:9“Will the wild ox be content to serve you? Or will he stay by your feeding trough?

39:10Can you hold the wild ox in the furrow with his harness? Or will he till the valleys after you?

39:11Will you trust him, because his strength is great? Or will you leave to him your labor?

39:12Will you confide in him, that he will bring home your seed, and gather the grain of your threshing floor?

39:13“The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the feathers and plumage of love?

39:14For she leaves her eggs on the earth, warms them in the dust,

39:15and forgets that the foot may crush them, or that the wild animal may trample them.

39:16She deals harshly with her young ones, as if they were not hers. Though her labor is in vain, she is without fear,

39:17because God has deprived her of wisdom, neither has he imparted to her understanding.

39:18When she lifts up herself on high, she scorns the horse and his rider.

39:19“Have you given the horse might? Have you clothed his neck with a quivering mane?

39:20Have you made him to leap as a locust? The glory of his snorting is awesome.

39:21He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength. He goes out to meet the armed men.

39:22He mocks at fear, and is not dismayed, neither does he turn back from the sword.

39:23The quiver rattles against him, the flashing spear and the javelin.

39:24He eats up the ground with fierceness and rage, neither does he stand still at the sound of the trumpet.

39:25As often as the trumpet sounds he snorts, ‘Aha!’ He smells the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

39:26“Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars, and stretches her wings toward the south?

39:27Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up, and makes his nest on high?

39:28On the cliff he dwells and makes his home, on the point of the cliff and the stronghold.

39:29From there he spies out the prey. His eyes see it afar off.

39:30His young ones also suck up blood. Where the slain are, there he is.”

Job 40

40:1Moreover the LORD answered Job,

40:2“Shall he who argues contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.”

40:3Then Job answered the LORD,

40:4“Behold, I am of small account. What will I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth.

40:5I have spoken once, and I will not answer; Yes, twice, but I will proceed no further.”

40:6Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind:

40:7“Now brace yourself like a man. I will question you, and you will answer me.

40:8Will you even annul my judgment? Will you condemn me, that you may be justified?

40:9Or do you have an arm like God? Can you thunder with a voice like him?

40:10“Now deck yourself with excellency and dignity. Array yourself with honor and majesty.

40:11Pour out the fury of your anger. Look at everyone who is proud, and bring him low.

40:12Look at everyone who is proud, and humble him. Crush the wicked in their place.

40:13Hide them in the dust together. Bind their faces in the hidden place.

40:14Then I will also admit to you that your own right hand can save you.

40:15“See now behemoth, which I made as well as you. He eats grass as an ox.

40:16Look now, his strength is in his thighs. His force is in the muscles of his belly.

40:17He moves his tail like a cedar. The sinews of his thighs are knit together.

40:18His bones are like tubes of bronze. His limbs are like bars of iron.

40:19He is the chief of the ways of God. He who made him gives him his sword.

40:20Surely the mountains produce food for him, where all the animals of the field play.

40:21He lies under the lotus trees, in the covert of the reed, and the marsh.

40:22The lotuses cover him with their shade. The willows of the brook surround him.

40:23Behold, if a river overflows, he doesn’t tremble. He is confident, though the Jordan swells even to his mouth.

40:24Shall any take him when he is on the watch, or pierce through his nose with a snare?

Job 41

41:1“Can you draw out Leviathan with a fish hook, or press down his tongue with a cord?

41:2Can you put a rope into his nose, or pierce his jaw through with a hook?

41:3Will he make many petitions to you, or will he speak soft words to you?

41:4Will he make a covenant with you, that you should take him for a servant forever?

41:5Will you play with him as with a bird? Or will you bind him for your girls?

41:6Will traders barter for him? Will they part him among the merchants?

41:7Can you fill his skin with barbed irons, or his head with fish spears?

41:8Lay your hand on him. Remember the battle, and do so no more.

41:9Behold, the hope of him is in vain. Won’t one be cast down even at the sight of him?

41:10None is so fierce that he dare stir him up. Who then is he who can stand before me?

41:11Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Everything under the heavens is mine.

41:12“I will not keep silence concerning his limbs, nor his mighty strength, nor his goodly frame.

41:13Who can strip off his outer garment? Who will come within his jaws?

41:14Who can open the doors of his face? Around his teeth is terror.

41:15Strong scales are his pride, shut up together with a close seal.

41:16One is so near to another, that no air can come between them.

41:17They are joined to one another. They stick together, so that they can’t be pulled apart.

41:18His sneezing flashes out light. His eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

41:19Out of his mouth go burning torches. Sparks of fire leap out.

41:20Out of his nostrils a smoke goes, as of a boiling pot over a fire of reeds.

41:21His breath kindles coals. A flame goes out of his mouth.

41:22There is strength in his neck. Terror dances before him.

41:23The flakes of his flesh are joined together. They are firm on him. They can’t be moved.

41:24His heart is as firm as a stone, yes, firm as the lower millstone.

41:25When he raises himself up, the mighty are afraid. They retreat before his thrashing.

41:26If one attacks him with the sword, it can’t prevail; nor the spear, the dart, nor the pointed shaft.

41:27He counts iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood.

41:28The arrow can’t make him flee. Sling stones are like chaff to him.

41:29Clubs are counted as stubble. He laughs at the rushing of the javelin.

41:30His undersides are like sharp potsherds, leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.

41:31He makes the deep to boil like a pot. He makes the sea like a pot of ointment.

41:32He makes a path shine after him. One would think the deep had white hair.

41:33On earth there is not his equal, that is made without fear.

41:34He sees everything that is high. He is king over all the sons of pride.”