Job Replies

Job 40 (selections)

Biblical Period

3Job said in reply to the Lord:
4See, I am of small worth; what can I answer You?
I clap my hand to my mouth.
5I have spoken once, and will not reply;
Twice, and will do so no more.
6Then the Lord replied to Job out of the tempest and said:
7Gird your loins like a man;
I will ask, and you will inform Me.
8Would you impugn My justice?
Would you condemn Me that you may be right?
9Have you an arm like God’s?
Can you thunder with a voice like His?
10Deck yourself now with grandeur and eminence;
Clothe yourself in glory and majesty.
11Scatter wide your raging anger;
See every proud man and bring him low.
12See every proud man and humble him,
And bring them down where they stand. [ . . . ]
14Then even I would praise you
For the triumph your right hand won you.
15Take now behemoth, whom I made as I did you;
He eats grass, like the cattle.
16His strength is in his loins,
His might in the muscles of his belly.
17He makes his tail stand up like a cedar;
The sinews of his thighs are knit together.
18His bones are like tubes of bronze,
His limbs like iron rods.
19He is the first of God’s works;
Only his Maker can draw the sword against him.
20The mountains yield him produce,
Where all the beasts of the field play.
21He lies down beneath the lotuses,
In the cover of the swamp reeds.
22The lotuses embower him with shade;
The willows of the brook surround him.
23He can restrain the river from its rushing;
He is confident the stream will gush at his command.
24Can he be taken by his eyes?
Can his nose be pierced by hooks?

Credits

Reprinted from Tanakh: The Holy Scriptures by permission of the University of Nebraska Press. Copyright 1985 by the Jewish Publication Society, Philadelphia.

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 1.

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