Job 26

Job’s Ninth Speech: A Response to Bildad

¹Then Job answered and said,[#Hebrew “And”]

²“How you have helped one who has no power![#Singular; #Literally “for not power”]

How you have assisted the arm that has no strength!

³How you have advised one who has no wisdom![#Singular; #Literally “for not wisdom”]

And what sound wisdom you have made known in abundance!

⁴With whose help have you uttered words,[#Literally “With whom”; #Singular]

and whose breath has come forth from you?

⁵“The spirits of the dead tremble

below the waters and their inhabitants.

⁶Sheol is naked before him,

and there is no covering for Abaddon.

⁷He stretches out the north over emptiness;

he hangs the earth over nothing.

⁸He ties up the water in its clouds,

and the cloud is not torn open beneath it.

⁹He covers the face of the full moon;[#Text reads “throne”; “full moon” is based on a change of the vowels]

he spreads his cloud over it.

¹⁰He has described a circle on the face of the water[#NRSV; literally “a limit he has circled”]

between light and darkness.

¹¹“The pillars of heaven tremble,

and they are astounded at his rebuke.

¹²By his power he stilled the sea,

and by his understanding he struck down Rahab.

¹³By his breath the heavens were made clear;[#Literally “heavens clearness”]

his hand pierced the fleeing snake.

¹⁴Look, these are the outer fringes of his ways,

and how faint is the word that we hear of him!

But who can understand the thunder of his power?”