USB ~ Job 26

Job’s Reply.

1 Then Job answered and said:†

2 What help you give to the powerless, what strength to the feeble arm!

3 How you give counsel to one without wisdom; how profuse is the advice you offer!

4 With whose help have you uttered those words, whose breath comes forth from you? a

5 The shades† beneath writhe in terror, b the waters, and their inhabitants.

6 Naked before him is Sheol,† and Abaddon has no covering. c

7 He stretches out Zaphon† over the void, and suspends the earth over nothing at all;

8 He binds up the waters in his clouds, yet the cloud is not split by their weight;

9 He holds back the appearance of the full moon by spreading his clouds before it.

10 He has marked out a circle† on the surface of the deepd as the boundary of light and darkness.

11 The pillars of the heavens tremble and are stunned at his thunderous rebuke; e

12 By his power he stilled Sea, by his skill he crushed Rahab;†

13 By his wind the heavens were made clear, his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.† f

14 Lo, these are but the outlines of his ways, and what a whisper of a word we hear of him: Who can comprehend the thunder of his power?

†. 26:1-14 Perhaps to be read as Job’s reply to Bildad’s short speech.

†. 26:5 Shades: the dead in Sheol, the nether world; cf. Ps 88:11; Is 26:14.

†. 26:6 Sheol: cf. note on Ps 6:6. Abaddon: Hebrew for “(place of) destruction,” a synonym for nether world; cf. Jb 28:22; Rev 9:11.

†. 26:7 Zaphon: lit., “the north,” used here as a synonym for the firmament, the heavens; cf. Is 14:13.

†. 26:10 Circle: the horizon of the ocean which serves as the boundary for the activity of light and darkness; cf. Prv 8:27.

†. 26:12 Rahab: another name for the primeval sea-monster; see notes on Jb 3:8 and Ps 89:11; cf. also Jb 7:12; 9:13.

†. 26:13 The fleeing serpent: the same term occurs in Is 27:1 in apposition to Leviathan; see note on Jb 3:8.