Add parallel Print Page Options

40 I am the Lord All-Powerful,
but you have argued
    that I am wrong.
Now you must answer me.

Job said to the Lord:
    Who am I to answer you?
I did speak once or twice,
    but never again.

Then out of the storm
    the Lord said to Job:
Face me and answer
    the questions I ask!
Are you trying to prove
that you are innocent
    by accusing me of injustice?
Do you have a powerful arm
and a thundering voice
    that compare with mine?
10 If so, then surround yourself
    with glory and majesty.
* 11 Show your furious anger!
Throw down and crush
12     all who are proud and evil.
13 Wrap them in grave clothes
and bury them together
    in the dusty soil.
14 Do this, and I will agree
that you have won
    this argument.

I Created You

15 I created both you
    and the hippopotamus.[a]
It eats only grass like an ox,
16 but look at the mighty muscles
in its body 17     and legs.
Its tail is like a cedar tree,
    and its thighs are thick.
18 The bones in its legs
    are like bronze or iron.

19 I made it more powerful
than any other creature,
    yet I am stronger still.
20 Undisturbed, it eats grass
while the other animals
    play nearby.[b]
* 21 It rests in the shade of trees
    along the riverbank
22 or hides among reeds
    in the swamp.
23 It remains calm and unafraid
with the Jordan River rushing
    and splashing in its face.
24 There is no way to capture
    a hippopotamus—
not even by hooking its nose
    or blinding its eyes.

Footnotes

  1. 40.15 the hippopotamus: The Hebrew text has “Behemoth,” which was sometimes understood to be a sea monster like Rahab (9.13; 26.12), Leviathan (3.8; 41.1), and Tannin (7.12).
  2. 40.20 nearby: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text of verse 20.

Bible Gateway Recommends