Old Testament

Job 26
Round Three: Job's Second Speech
261Then Job responded:
2How marvelously you have helped the helpless!
How wonderfully you have saved the arm that has no strength!
3What great advice you have given to the one who lacks wisdom!
What great insight you have revealed!
4Who helped you proclaim these words?
Whose breath[] came out of your mouth?
5The spirits of the dead writhe in pain underneath the waters,
along with all those who dwell there.
6Hell[] is naked before God,
and there is nowhere to hide in the place of destruction.[]
7He stretches out the northern sky across the emptiness.
He suspends the earth on nothing.
8He encloses water in his clouds,
but the clouds are not broken apart by its weight.
9He dims the face of the full moon by veiling it with his clouds.
10He drew a circle around the surface of the waters.
It marks the boundary of light and darkness.
11The pillars of the heavens shake.
They are stunned by his rebuke.
12By his power he calmed[] the sea.
By his understanding he smashed Rahab.[]
13By his breath the skies became beautiful.
His hand pierced the fleeing serpent.[]
14But 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

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