Job 40

Job’s Reply to God’s Challenge

1Then the Lord answered Job:

2“Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let the person who accuses God give him an answer!”

3Then Job answered the Lord:

4“Indeed, I am completely unworthy – how could I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth to silence myself.

5I have spoken once, but I cannot answer; twice, but I will say no more.”

The Lord’s Second Speech#sn The speech can be divided into three parts: the invitation to Job to assume the throne and rule the world (40:7-14), the description of Behemoth (40:15-24), and the description of Leviathan (41:1-34).

6Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind:

7“Get ready for a difficult task like a man. I will question you and you will inform me!

8Would you indeed annul my justice? Would you declare me guilty so that you might be right?

9Do you have an arm as powerful as God’s, and can you thunder with a voice like his?

10Adorn yourself, then, with majesty and excellency, and clothe yourself with glory and honor!

11Scatter abroad the abundance of your anger. Look at every proud man and bring him low;

12Look at every proud man and abase him; crush the wicked on the spot!

13Hide them in the dust together, imprison them in the grave.

14Then I myself will acknowledge to you that your own right hand can save you.

The Description of Behemoth#sn The next ten verses are devoted to a portrayal of Behemoth (the name means “beast” in Hebrew). It does not fit any of the present material very well, and so many think the section is a later addition. Its style is more like that of a textbook. Moreover, if the animal is a real animal (the usual suggestion is the hippopotamus), then the location of such an animal is Egypt and not Palestine. Some have identified these creatures Behemoth and Leviathan as mythological creatures (Gunkel, Pope). Others point out that these creatures could have been dinosaurs (P. J. Maarten, NIDOTTE, 2:780; H. M. Morris, The Remarkable Record of Job, 115-22). Most would say they are real animals, but probably mythologized by the pagans. So the pagan reader would receive an additional impact from this point about God’s sovereignty over all nature.

15“Look now at Behemoth, which I made as I made you; it eats grass like the ox.

16Look at its strength in its loins, and its power in the muscles of its belly.

17It makes its tail stiff like a cedar, the sinews of its thighs are tightly wound.

18Its bones are tubes of bronze, its limbs like bars of iron.

19It ranks first among the works of God, the One who made it has furnished it with a sword.

20For the hills bring it food, where all the wild animals play.

21Under the lotus trees it lies, in the secrecy of the reeds and the marsh.

22The lotus trees conceal it in their shadow; the poplars by the stream conceal it.

23If the river rages, it is not disturbed, it is secure, though the Jordan should surge up to its mouth.

24Can anyone catch it by its eyes, or pierce its nose with a snare?