Job’s Reply to Bildad

Job 26   

1 Then Job answered:

2 How you have helped t the powerless

and delivered the arm that is weak!

3   How you have counseled the unwise u

and abundantly provided insight!

4   With whom did you speak these words?

Whose breath came out of your mouth?

5   The departed spirits tremble

beneath the waters and all that inhabit them. v

6   Sheol w is naked before God,

and Abaddon x has no covering. y

7   He stretches the northern skies over empty space;

he hangs the earth on nothing.

8   He wraps up the water in his clouds,

yet the clouds do not burst beneath its weight. z

9   He obscures the view of his throne,

spreading his cloud over it.

10   He laid out the horizon on the surface of the waters a

at the boundary between light and darkness.

11   The pillars that hold up the sky tremble,

astounded at his rebuke. b

12   By his power he stirred c the sea,

and by his understanding he crushed Rahab. d

13   By his breath the heavens gained their beauty;

his hand pierced the fleeing serpent. W,e

14   These are but the fringes of his ways;

how faint is the word we hear of him!

Who can understand his mighty thunder?