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Round Three: Job’s Second Speech

26 Then Job responded:

How marvelously you have helped the helpless!
How wonderfully you have saved the arm that has no strength!
What great advice you have given to the one who lacks wisdom!
What great insight you have revealed!
Who helped you proclaim these words?
Whose breath[a] came out of your mouth?
The spirits of the dead writhe in pain underneath the waters,
along with all those who dwell there.
Hell[b] is naked before God,
and there is nowhere to hide in the place of destruction.[c]

He stretches out the northern sky across the emptiness.
He suspends the earth on nothing.
He encloses water in his clouds,
but the clouds are not broken apart by its weight.
He dims the face of the full moon by veiling it with his clouds.
10 He drew a circle around the surface of the waters.
It marks the boundary of light and darkness.
11 The pillars of the heavens shake.
They are stunned by his rebuke.
12 By his power he calmed[d] the sea.
By his understanding he smashed Rahab.[e]
13 By his breath the skies became beautiful.
His hand pierced the fleeing serpent.[f]

14 But all these are just the fringe of his ways!
How faint a whisper we hear of him!
Who understands his power, which is displayed in the thunder?

Footnotes

  1. Job 26:4 Or spirit
  2. Job 26:6 Or the grave or death. The Hebrew reads sheol.
  3. Job 26:6 Hebrew abaddon
  4. Job 26:12 Or stirred up
  5. Job 26:12 Rahab is a monster that symbolizes the power of the sea.
  6. Job 26:13 Perhaps this name for Leviathan here refers to a constellation like Draco, the dragon.

Job

26 Then Job replied:

“How you have helped the powerless!(A)
    How you have saved the arm that is feeble!(B)
What advice you have offered to one without wisdom!
    And what great insight(C) you have displayed!
Who has helped you utter these words?
    And whose spirit spoke from your mouth?(D)

“The dead are in deep anguish,(E)
    those beneath the waters and all that live in them.
The realm of the dead(F) is naked before God;
    Destruction[a](G) lies uncovered.(H)
He spreads out the northern skies(I) over empty space;
    he suspends the earth over nothing.(J)
He wraps up the waters(K) in his clouds,(L)
    yet the clouds do not burst under their weight.
He covers the face of the full moon,
    spreading his clouds(M) over it.
10 He marks out the horizon on the face of the waters(N)
    for a boundary between light and darkness.(O)
11 The pillars of the heavens quake,(P)
    aghast at his rebuke.
12 By his power he churned up the sea;(Q)
    by his wisdom(R) he cut Rahab(S) to pieces.
13 By his breath the skies(T) became fair;
    his hand pierced the gliding serpent.(U)
14 And these are but the outer fringe of his works;
    how faint the whisper(V) we hear of him!(W)
    Who then can understand the thunder of his power?”(X)

Footnotes

  1. Job 26:6 Hebrew Abaddon