Submit Yourself unto the Lord Your God – Job 40:6-42:6
40 (6) Jehovah answered Job out of the tempest. He said, (7) Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me. (8) Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me so that you might be justified? (9) Do you have an arm like God’s, can you thunder with a voice like his? (10) Adorn yourself with glory and splendor; clothe yourself with honor and majesty. (11) Unleash the fury of your wrath; glance at every proud man and humble him. (12) Glance at every proud man and abase him; trample down the wicked where they stand. (13) Bury them all in the dust; cover their faces with a shroud in the grave. (14) Then I myself will laud you, for your own right hand is able to deliver you.
(15) Look at the behemoth, whom I made together with you; he eats grass like an ox. (16) What strength he has in his loins, what power in the muscles of his belly! (17) He stiffens his tail like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are tightly knit. (18) His bones are like tubes of bronze, his limbs like rods of iron. (19) He ranks first among the works of God, yet his Maker can approach him with his sword as his master. (20) The hills bring him food, and all the wild animals play nearby. (21) He lies under the lotus plants, hidden among the reeds of the marsh. (22) The lotuses conceal him in their shadow; the poplars by the stream surround him. (23) When the river rages, he is not alarmed; he is secure, even when the Jordan River surges to his mouth. (24) Can one capture him when he is on watch, can one pierce his nose with barbs?
41 Can you pull the leviathan out of the water with a fishhook or tie his tongue with a rope? (2) Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook? (3) Will he keep begging you for mercy? Will he speak to you with gentle words? (4) Will he make a covenant with you so that you may take him as a life long slave? (5) Can you play with him as with a bird or put him on a leash for your little daughters? (6) Will traders barter for him? Will they divide him up among the merchants? (7) Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears? (8) If you lay your hand on him, you will remember the battle and not do it again. (9) Any hope of subduing him is false; one is overwhelmed by the mere sight of him. (10) No one is brave enough to rouse him. (Who then is able to stand against me? (11) Who has given anything to me that I should repay him? Everything under heaven belongs to me.) (12) I will not fail to speak of his limbs, his strength, and his graceful form. (13) Who can strip off his outer armor? Who can penetrate his double coat of mail? (14) Who dares to open the doors of his mouth, ringed about with his fearsome teeth? (15) His back is like rows of shields tightly sealed together, (16) each one is so close to the next that no air can pass between them. (17) They are tightly joined to one another; they are interlocked and cannot be separated. (18) His snorting throws out flashes of light; his eyes are like the rays of dawn. (19) Fire brands stream from his mouth; sparks of fire shoot out. (20) Smoke pours from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over a fire of reeds. (21) His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames dart out of his mouth. (22) His strength resides in his neck; in terror, creatures leap before him. (23) The folds of his flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable. (24) His chest is hard as rock, hard as a lower millstone. (25) When he rises up, the mighty are terrified; before his thrashing they retreat. (26) The sword that reaches him has no effect, nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin. (27) He treats iron like straw and bronze like rotten wood. (28) Arrows do not make him flee; slingshots are like chaff to him. (29) A club seems to him to be nothing more than a piece of straw, and he laughs at the whirring of the javelin. (30) His undersides are like jagged potsherds, they leave a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge. (31) He makes the depths churn like a boiling cauldron, and he stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment. (32) Behind him he leaves a glistening wake; it makes the deep appear to have white hair. (33) Nothing on earth is his equal—a creature without fear. (34) Even all those who are exalted fear him; he is king over all the proud.
42 Then Job replied to Jehovah, (2) I know that you can do all things; no plan of yours can be thwarted. (3) Who is this that obscures deliberation with his lack of knowledge? Surely I spoke of things I did not understand, matters that are too wonderful for me to know. (4) Listen now and I will speak; I will inquire and may you instruct me. (5) My ears had heard of you, but now my eyes have seen you. (6) Consequently, I abhor my words and recant in dust and ashes.
Now proceed to the next section of this study, entitled, Exploring the Passage.
