1 The LORD answered Job:
2 Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him?
Let him who argues with God give an answer.
3 Then Job answered the LORD:
4 I am so insignificant. How can I answer you? c
I place my hand over my mouth.
5 I have spoken once, and I will not reply;
twice, but now I can add nothing. d
6 Then the LORD answered Job from the whirlwind: e
7 Get ready to answer me like a man;
When I question f you, you will inform me.
8 Would you really challenge my justice?
Would you declare me guilty g to justify yourself? h
9 Do you have an arm like God’s?
Can you thunder with a voice like his?
10 Adorn yourself with majesty i and splendor,
and clothe yourself with honor and glory.
11 Pour out your raging anger; j
look on every proud person and humiliate him. k
12 Look on every proud person and humble him; l
trample the wicked where they stand.
13 Hide them together in the dust;
imprison them in the grave.
14 Then I will confess to you
that your own right hand m can deliver you. n
15 Look at Behemoth,
which I made along with you.
He eats grass like cattle.
16 Look at the strength of his back
and the power in the muscles of his belly.
17 He stiffens his tail like a cedar tree;
the tendons of his thighs are woven firmly together.
18 His bones are bronze tubes;
his limbs are like iron rods.
19 He is the foremost of God’s works; o
only his Maker can draw the sword against him.
20 The hills yield food for him,
while all sorts of wild animals play there.
21 He lies under the lotus plants,
hiding in the protection of marshy reeds.
22 Lotus plants cover him with their shade;
the willows by the brook surround him.
23 Though the river rages, Behemoth is unafraid;
he remains confident, even if the Jordan surges up to his mouth.
24 Can anyone capture him while he looks on,
or pierce his nose with snares?
40:1–2. After posing to Job numerous questions about his knowledge of the inanimate world and the animal domain (Jb 38–39), God asks if Job is qualified to instruct him (40:1–2). Job responds with a tentative and evasive answer (40:3–5). The question in 40:2 echoes God’s previous words to Job in 38:2. God refuses to be put on the defensive by replying to Job’s charges and complaints. Rather, he places the burden of proof on Job and asks if Job is qualified to instruct him. If Job cannot answer God’s questions, then he has no standing to reprove God.
B. Job (40:3–5). Interpreters have taken Job’s reply to God in 40:4–5 in two contrasting ways. Some view this as Job’s humble acknowledgment that he has been wrong. This rendering would imply that God agrees with the friends that Job has sinned. But in 42:7–9 God affirms Job as right against the friends, who are wrong. Other interpreters rightly contend that Job says that he is “insignificant” rather than that he has sinned, as the friends have insisted. This view sees Job as beginning to turn away from arguing against God and starting to accept what God has done in his life.
40:6–8. In 40:6–14, God challenges Job to listen again to him (cf. 38:3). This renewed interrogation will require every effort that Job can muster, as God has enrolled him in a graduate course in the divine school of wisdom. God exhorts Job to prepare himself for a formidable intellectual and theological challenge (40:7).
40:9–14. In Ex 15:16 and Ps 44:3, the arm of God (40:9) is an image for his power. God’s question here implies that Job can no more exercise moral judgment than control the natural world. Chapters 38 and 39 have already shown that Job is unable to understand or control the natural world. Now God challenges Job with commands that no human can fulfill. The logical conclusion is that Job is unqualified to fault God. Job is not God and cannot do what the sovereign Lord does. Assuming that Job cannot accomplish what the divine commands in 40:10–13 require, God concludes that he will not defer to Job (40:14). God alone is in control and has no intention of ceding his authority to Job or any other human.
40:15–24. God then directs Job’s attention to Behemoth as an especially amazing example of the divine creative work (40:15). “Behemoth” is the plural form for the generic Hebrew word for an animal. The plural likely has an intensive force, making it mean “great beast.” The description here of Behemoth parallels in many respects how literal animals are portrayed in Jb 38–39. Behemoth has powerful physical features (40:16–18), exercises dominion over other animals (40:19–22), and is fearless before raging rivers (40:23) and humans (40:24). It has often been taken to picture the hippopotamus, but other suggestions include the water buffalo, the elephant, or a mythological sea monster. Even though Behemoth cannot be controlled by humans, God made it and securely controls it, so it is no threat to the divine order in the world (40:19).