The LORD speaks and Job answers

¹The LORD continued to respond to Job:

²Will the one who disputes with the Almighty correct him?

God’s instructor must answer him.

³Job responded to the LORD :

⁴Look, I’m of little worth. What can I answer you?

I’ll put my hand over my mouth.

⁵I have spoken once, I won’t answer;

twice, I won’t do it again.

A challenge from the LORD

⁶The LORD answered Job from the whirlwind:

⁷Prepare yourself like a man;

I will interrogate you, and you will respond to me.

⁸Would you question my justice,

deem me guilty so you can be innocent?

⁹Or do you have an arm like God;

can you thunder with a voice like him?

¹⁰Adorn yourself with splendor and majesty;

clothe yourself with honor and esteem.

¹¹Unleash your raging anger;

look on all the proud and humble them.

¹²Look on all the proud and debase them;

trample the wicked in their place.

¹³Hide them together in the dust;

bind their faces in a hidden place.

¹⁴Then I, even I, will praise you,

for your strong hand has delivered you.

Behemoth

¹⁵Look at Behemoth, whom I made along with you;

he eats grass like cattle.

¹⁶Look, his strength is in his thighs,

his power in stomach muscles.

¹⁷He stiffens his tail like a cedar;

the tendons in his thighs are tightly woven.

¹⁸His bones are like bronze tubes,

his limbs like iron bars.

¹⁹He is the first of God’s acts;

only his maker can come near him with a sword.

²⁰Indeed, the hills bring him tribute,

places where all the wild animals play.

²¹He lies under the lotuses,

under the cover of reed and marsh.

²²The lotuses screen him with shade;

poplars of the stream surround him.

²³If the river surges, he doesn’t hurry;

he is confident even though the Jordan gushes into his mouth.

²⁴Can he be seized by his eyes?

Can anyone pierce his nose by hooks?