Job

40

1 And the Lord God answered Job, and said,

2 Will any one pervert judgment with the Mighty One? and he that reproves God, let him return it for answer.

3 And Job answered and said to the Lord,

4 Why do I yet plead? being rebuked even while reproving the Lord: hearing such things, whereas I am nothing: and what shall I answer to these arguments? I will lay my hand upon my mouth.

5 I have spoken once; but I will not do so a second time.

6 And the Lord yet again answered and spoke to Job out of the cloud, saying,

7 Nay, gird up now thy loins like a man; and I will ask thee, and do thou answer me.

8 Do not set aside my judgment: and dost thou think that I have dealt with thee in any other way, than that thou mightest appear to be righteous?

9 Hast thou an arm like the Lord's? or dost thou thunder with a voice like his?

10 Assume now a lofty bearing and power; and clothe thyself with glory and honour.

11 And send forth messengers with wrath; and lay low every haughty one.

12 Bring down also the proud man; and consume at once the ungodly.

13 And hide them together in the earth; and fill their faces with shame.

14 Then will I confess that thy right hand can save thee.

15 But now look at the wild beasts with thee; they eat grass like oxen.

16 Behold now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly.

17 He sets up his tail like a cypress; and his nerves are wrapped together.

18 His sides are sides of brass; and his backbone is as cast iron.

19 This is the chief of the creation of the Lord; made to be played with by his angels.

20 And when he has gone up to a steep mountain, he causes joy to the quadrupeds in the deep.

21 He lies under trees of every kind, by the papyrus, and reed, and bulrush.

22 And the great trees make a shadow over him with their branches, and so do the bushes of the field.

23 If there should be a flood, he will not perceive it; he trusts that Jordan will rush up into his mouth.

24 Yet one shall take him in his sight; one shall catch him with a cord, and pierce his nose.

25 But wilt thou catch the serpent with a hook, and put a halter about his nose?

26 Or wilt thou fasten a ring in his nostril, and bore his lip with a clasp?

27 Will he address thee with a petition? softly, with the voice of a suppliant?

28 And will he make a covenant with thee? and wilt thou take him for a perpetual servant?

29 And wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or bind him as a sparrow for a child?

30 And do the nations feed upon him, and the nations of the Phœnicians share him?

31 And all the ships come together would not be able to bear the mere skin of his tail; neither shall they carry his head in fishing-vessels.

32 But thou shalt lay thy hand upon him once, remembering the war that is waged by his mouth; and let it not be done any more.