Job / God's Response from the Whirlwind and the Wonders of Creation (part 3)

God's Response from the Whirlwind and the Wonders of Creation (part 3)

Job 40:15-41:26

Chapter 40

¹⁵ Behold now the beast that I made with you; it eats grass like cattle. ¹⁶ Behold now—his cosmic power in his loins and vigor in the muscles of his belly. ¹⁷ It bends its tail like a cedar; the sinews of its dreads intertwine. ¹⁸ His bones are channels of bronze, his sinews like bars of iron. ¹⁹ He is the firstfruits of my ways, the one God made; his sword approaches. ²⁰ For the produce of the mountains they bear for him, and all the beasts of the field play there. ²¹ Under the shade he lies down, in the secret place of reed and thicket. ²² Lotus trees cover him. Reeds and thickets of the river surround him; they sink. ²³ Behold, he oppresses a river—he does not hurry. He trusts. For he gulps if the Jordan bursts forth to his mouth. ²⁴ He will take him with snares in his eyes; he will pierce a nostril. ²⁵ She will draw Leviathan with her hook, and with a rope you will sink its tongue. ²⁶ Will you put a reed in his nose or pierce his cheeks with a thorn? ²⁷ Will he multiply supplications for grace to you? Or if he speaks softly to you? ²⁸ You cut a covenant with your people; you will take him to serve forever. ²⁹ Will you play with it like a bird and tie it to your girls? ³⁰ They will dig allies for him; they will divide him between Canaanites. ³¹ It fills its head with folds of its skin and with the whirring of fishes. ³² Put your hand upon him; the remembrance of warfare—do not add!

Chapter 41

¹ Look—its beginning is deceived; will he even cast it to its visions? ² "Not cruel, for he will blind me, and who is he that will station himself in my presence?" ³ Who has confronted me that I should repay? Everything under heaven belongs to me. ⁴ Will you linger in his skin and speak of his might and power and the account of his array? ⁵ Who uncovers the face of his garment? Who will come upon his double bridle? ⁶ Who has opened the doors of his face? The surroundings of his teeth are terror. ⁷ The pride of the channels of shields closed the seal tight. ⁸ They approach one to another, and no air comes between them. ⁹ Each with his brother—they cling together; they are joined together, and they will not be separated. ¹⁰ His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of dawn. ¹¹ From its mouth firebrands go; like fiery darts they escape. ¹² From his nostrils comes smoke, like a pot over David puffed and a pond. ¹³ His soul—glowing coals—will blaze; a flame from his mouth goes out. ¹⁴ Might dwells in his neck, and dread dances before him. ¹⁵ The folds of his flesh cling together; it is poured over him; it does not totter. ¹⁶ Its heart is cast like a stone, cast like a piece of the underworld. ¹⁷ They shall sojourn among gods for their drinking; they shall de-sin themselves from bread provisions. ¹⁸ His sneezings flash forth light; his eyes are like the eyelids of dawn. ¹⁹ He considers iron as stubble, bronze as rotten wood. ²⁰ The son of the bow will not flee from him; the stones of the sling are turned to stubble for him. ²¹ They are reckoned like stubble, a weapon, and he laughs at the noise like a spear. ²² Under it the sharpnesses of a craftsman pave a sharp one upon clay. ²³ He boils like a pot the deep of the sea; he sets it like an ointment pot. ²⁴ Behind him he illuminates a path; he considers the deep to be hoary. ²⁵ There is no rule over him from the dust which they made, so as not to dread. ²⁶ It sees all the cosmic heights; it reigns over all the sons of the sea monster.