Sermon Central
Job 36-40
1Elihu continued:
2“Bear with me a little longer and I will show you that there is more to be said in God’s behalf.
3I get my knowledge from afar; I will ascribe justice to my Maker.
4Be assured that my words are not false; one who has perfect knowledge is with you.
5“God is mighty, but despises no one; he is mighty, and firm in his purpose.
6He does not keep the wicked alive but gives the afflicted their rights.
7He does not take his eyes off the righteous; he enthrones them with kings and exalts them forever.
8But if people are bound in chains, held fast by cords of affliction,
9he tells them what they have done— that they have sinned arrogantly.
10He makes them listen to correction and commands them to repent of their evil.
11If they obey and serve him, they will spend the rest of their days in prosperity and their years in contentment.
12But if they do not listen, they will perish by the sword
13“The godless in heart harbor resentment; even when he fetters them, they do not cry for help.
14They die in their youth, among male prostitutes of the shrines.
15But those who suffer he delivers in their suffering; he speaks to them in their affliction.
16“He is wooing you from the jaws of distress to a spacious place free from restriction, to the comfort of your table laden with choice food.
17But now you are laden with the judgment due the wicked; judgment and justice have taken hold of you.
18Be careful that no one entices you by riches; do not let a large bribe turn you aside.
19Would your wealth or even all your mighty efforts sustain you so you would not be in distress?
20Do not long for the night, to drag people away from their homes.
21Beware of turning to evil, which you seem to prefer to affliction.
22“God is exalted in his power. Who is a teacher like him?
23Who has prescribed his ways for him, or said to him, ‘You have done wrong’?
24Remember to extol his work, which people have praised in song.
25All humanity has seen it; mortals gaze on it from afar.
26How great is God—beyond our understanding! The number of his years is past finding out.
27“He draws up the drops of water, which distill as rain to the streams
28the clouds pour down their moisture and abundant showers fall on mankind.
29Who can understand how he spreads out the clouds, how he thunders from his pavilion?
30See how he scatters his lightning about him, bathing the depths of the sea.
31This is the way he governs
32He fills his hands with lightning and commands it to strike its mark.
33His thunder announces the coming storm; even the cattle make known its approach.
1“At this my heart pounds and leaps from its place.
2Listen! Listen to the roar of his voice, to the rumbling that comes from his mouth.
3He unleashes his lightning beneath the whole heaven and sends it to the ends of the earth.
4After that comes the sound of his roar; he thunders with his majestic voice. When his voice resounds, he holds nothing back.
5God’s voice thunders in marvelous ways; he does great things beyond our understanding.
6He says to the snow, ‘Fall on the earth,’ and to the rain shower, ‘Be a mighty downpour.’
7So that everyone he has made may know his work, he stops all people from their labor.
8The animals take cover; they remain in their dens.
9The tempest comes out from its chamber, the cold from the driving winds.
10The breath of God produces ice, and the broad waters become frozen.
11He loads the clouds with moisture; he scatters his lightning through them.
12At his direction they swirl around over the face of the whole earth to do whatever he commands them.
13He brings the clouds to punish people, or to water his earth and show his love.
14“Listen to this, Job; stop and consider God’s wonders.
15Do you know how God controls the clouds and makes his lightning flash?
16Do you know how the clouds hang poised, those wonders of him who has perfect knowledge?
17You who swelter in your clothes when the land lies hushed under the south wind,
18can you join him in spreading out the skies, hard as a mirror of cast bronze?
19“Tell us what we should say to him; we cannot draw up our case because of our darkness.
20Should he be told that I want to speak? Would anyone ask to be swallowed up?
21Now no one can look at the sun, bright as it is in the skies after the wind has swept them clean.
22Out of the north he comes in golden splendor; God comes in awesome majesty.
23The Almighty is beyond our reach and exalted in power; in his justice and great righteousness, he does not oppress.
24Therefore, people revere him, for does he not have regard for all the wise in heart?
The LORD Speaks 1Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm. He said:
2“Who is this that obscures my plans with words without knowledge?
3Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.
4“Where were you when I laid the earth’s foundation? Tell me, if you understand.
5Who marked off its dimensions? Surely you know! Who stretched a measuring line across it?
6On what were its footings set, or who laid its cornerstone—
7while the morning stars sang together and all the angels
8“Who shut up the sea behind doors when it burst forth from the womb,
9when I made the clouds its garment and wrapped it in thick darkness,
10when I fixed limits for it and set its doors and bars in place,
11when I said, ‘This far you may come and no farther; here is where your proud waves halt’?
12“Have you ever given orders to the morning, or shown the dawn its place,
13that it might take the earth by the edges and shake the wicked out of it?
14The earth takes shape like clay under a seal; its features stand out like those of a garment.
15The wicked are denied their light, and their upraised arm is broken.
16“Have you journeyed to the springs of the sea or walked in the recesses of the deep?
17Have the gates of death been shown to you? Have you seen the gates of the deepest darkness?
18Have you comprehended the vast expanses of the earth? Tell me, if you know all this.
19“What is the way to the abode of light? And where does darkness reside?
20Can you take them to their places? Do you know the paths to their dwellings?
21Surely you know, for you were already born! You have lived so many years!
22“Have you entered the storehouses of the snow or seen the storehouses of the hail,
23which I reserve for times of trouble, for days of war and battle?
24What is the way to the place where the lightning is dispersed, or the place where the east winds are scattered over the earth?
25Who cuts a channel for the torrents of rain, and a path for the thunderstorm,
26to water a land where no one lives, an uninhabited desert,
27to satisfy a desolate wasteland and make it sprout with grass?
28Does the rain have a father? Who fathers the drops of dew?
29From whose womb comes the ice? Who gives birth to the frost from the heavens
30when the waters become hard as stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen?
31“Can you bind the chains
32Can you bring forth the constellations in their seasons
33Do you know the laws of the heavens? Can you set up God’s
34“Can you raise your voice to the clouds and cover yourself with a flood of water?
35Do you send the lightning bolts on their way? Do they report to you, ‘Here we are’?
36Who gives the ibis wisdom
37Who has the wisdom to count the clouds? Who can tip over the water jars of the heavens
38when the dust becomes hard and the clods of earth stick together?
39“Do you hunt the prey for the lioness and satisfy the hunger of the lions
40when they crouch in their dens or lie in wait in a thicket? 41Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?
1“Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears her fawn?
2Do you count the months till they bear? Do you know the time they give birth?
3They crouch down and bring forth their young; their labor pains are ended.
4Their young thrive and grow strong in the wilds; they leave and do not return.
5“Who let the wild donkey go free? Who untied its ropes?
6I gave it the wasteland as its home, the salt flats as its habitat.
7It laughs at the commotion in the town; it does not hear a driver’s shout.
8It ranges the hills for its pasture and searches for any green thing.
9“Will the wild ox consent to serve you? Will it stay by your manger at night?
10Can you hold it to the furrow with a harness? Will it till the valleys behind you?
11Will you rely on it for its great strength? Will you leave your heavy work to it?
12Can you trust it to haul in your grain and bring it to your threshing floor?
13“The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, though they cannot compare with the wings and feathers of the stork.
14She lays her eggs on the ground and lets them warm in the sand,
15unmindful that a foot may crush them, that some wild animal may trample them.
16She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers; she cares not that her labor was in vain,
17for God did not endow her with wisdom or give her a share of good sense.
18Yet when she spreads her feathers to run, she laughs at horse and rider.
19“Do you give the horse its strength or clothe its neck with a flowing mane?
20Do you make it leap like a locust, striking terror with its proud snorting?
21It paws fiercely, rejoicing in its strength, and charges into the fray.
22It laughs at fear, afraid of nothing; it does not shy away from the sword.
23The quiver rattles against its side, along with the flashing spear and lance.
24In frenzied excitement it eats up the ground; it cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.
25At the blast of the trumpet it snorts, ‘Aha!’ It catches the scent of battle from afar, the shout of commanders and the battle cry.
26“Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom and spread its wings toward the south?
27Does the eagle soar at your command and build its nest on high?
28It dwells on a cliff and stays there at night; a rocky crag is its stronghold.
29From there it looks for food; its eyes detect it from afar. 30Its young ones feast on blood, and where the slain are, there it is.”
1The LORD said to Job:
2“Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let him who accuses God answer him!”
3Then Job answered the LORD :
4“I am unworthy—how can I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth.
5I spoke once, but I have no answer— twice, but I will say no more.”
6Then the LORD spoke to Job out of the storm:
7“Brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall answer me.
8“Would you discredit my justice? Would you condemn me to justify yourself?
9Do you have an arm like God’s, and can your voice thunder like his?
10Then adorn yourself with glory and splendor, and clothe yourself in honor and majesty.
11Unleash the fury of your wrath, look at all who are proud and bring them low,
12look at all who are proud and humble them, crush the wicked where they stand.
13Bury them all in the dust together; shroud their faces in the grave.
14Then I myself will admit to you that your own right hand can save you.
15“Look at Behemoth, which I made along with you and which feeds on grass like an ox.
16What strength it has in its loins, what power in the muscles of its belly!
17Its tail sways like a cedar; the sinews of its thighs are close-knit.
18Its bones are tubes of bronze, its limbs like rods of iron.
19It ranks first among the works of God, yet its Maker can approach it with his sword.
20The hills bring it their produce, and all the wild animals play nearby.
21Under the lotus plants it lies, hidden among the reeds in the marsh.
22The lotuses conceal it in their shadow; the poplars by the stream surround it.
23A raging river does not alarm it; it is secure, though the Jordan should surge against its mouth. 24Can anyone capture it by the eyes, or trap it and pierce its nose?