God Answers Job, or Does He?

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Scripture
  • Community:
    Ambassadors
    By:
    Jeff Wilson
    Date:
    Scripture:
    Job 38, 40, 42

  • Job 38

    The Lord Answers Job

    38:1 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

    2   “Who is this that darkens counsel by words without knowledge?
    3   Dress for action like a man;
        I will question you, and you make it known to me.
    4   “Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth?
        Tell me, if you have understanding.
    5   Who determined its measurements—surely you know!
        Or who stretched the line upon it?
    6   On what were its bases sunk,
        or who laid its cornerstone,
    7   when the morning stars sang together
        and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
    8   “Or who shut in the sea with doors
        when it burst out from the womb,
    9   when I made clouds its garment
        and thick darkness its swaddling band,
    10   and prescribed limits for it
        and set bars and doors,
    11   and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther,
        and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?
    12   “Have you commanded the morning since your days began,
        and caused the dawn to know its place,
    13   that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth,
        and the wicked be shaken out of it?
    14   It is changed like clay under the seal,
        and its features stand out like a garment.
    15   From the wicked their light is withheld,
        and their uplifted arm is broken.
    16   “Have you entered into the springs of the sea,
        or walked in the recesses of the deep?
    17   Have the gates of death been revealed to you,
        or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
    18   Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth?
        Declare, if you know all this.
    19   “Where is the way to the dwelling of light,
        and where is the place of darkness,
    20   that you may take it to its territory
        and that you may discern the paths to its home?
    21   You know, for you were born then,
        and the number of your days is great!
    22   “Have you entered the storehouses of the snow,
        or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
    23   which I have reserved for the time of trouble,
        for the day of battle and war?
    24   What is the way to the place where the light is distributed,
        or where the east wind is scattered upon the earth?
    25   “Who has cleft a channel for the torrents of rain
        and a way for the thunderbolt,
    26   to bring rain on a land where no man is,
        on the desert in which there is no man,
    27   to satisfy the waste and desolate land,
        and to make the ground sprout with grass?
    28   “Has the rain a father,
        or who has begotten the drops of dew?
    29   From whose womb did the ice come forth,
        and who has given birth to the frost of heaven?
    30   The waters become hard like stone,
        and the face of the deep is frozen.
    31   “Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades
        or loose the cords of Orion?
    32   Can you lead forth the Mazzaroth in their season,
        or can you guide the Bear with its children?
    33   Do you know the ordinances of the heavens?
        Can you establish their rule on the earth?
    34   “Can you lift up your voice to the clouds,
        that a flood of waters may cover you?
    35   Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go
        and say to you, ‘Here we are’?
    36   Who has put wisdom in the inward parts
        or given understanding to the mind?
    37   Who can number the clouds by wisdom?
        Or who can tilt the waterskins of the heavens,
    38   when the dust runs into a mass
        and the clods stick fast together?
    39   “Can you hunt the prey for the lion,
        or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
    40   when they crouch in their dens
        or lie in wait in their thicket?
    41   Who provides for the raven its prey,
        when its young ones cry to God for help,
        and wander about for lack of food?

    Job 40

    40:1 And the LORD said to Job:

    2   “Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty?
        He who argues with God, let him answer it.”

    Job Promises Silence

    3 Then Job answered the LORD and said:

    4   “Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you?
        I lay my hand on my mouth.
    5   I have spoken once, and I will not answer;
        twice, but I will proceed no further.”

    The Lord Challenges Job

    6 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

    7   “Dress for action like a man;
        I will question you, and you make it known to me.
    8   Will you even put me in the wrong?
        Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?
    9   Have you an arm like God,
        and can you thunder with a voice like his?
    10   “Adorn yourself with majesty and dignity;
        clothe yourself with glory and splendor.
    11   Pour out the overflowings of your anger,
        and look on everyone who is proud and abase him.
    12   Look on everyone who is proud and bring him low
        and tread down the wicked where they stand.
    13   Hide them all in the dust together;
        bind their faces in the world below.
    14   Then will I also acknowledge to you
        that your own right hand can save you.
    15   “Behold, Behemoth,
        which I made as I made you;
        he eats grass like an ox.
    16   Behold, his strength in his loins,
        and his power in the muscles of his belly.
    17   He makes his tail stiff like a cedar;
        the sinews of his thighs are knit together.
    18   His bones are tubes of bronze,
        his limbs like bars of iron.
    19   “He is the first of the works of God;
        let him who made him bring near his sword!
    20   For the mountains yield food for him
        where all the wild beasts play.
    21   Under the lotus plants he lies,
        in the shelter of the reeds and in the marsh.
    22   For his shade the lotus trees cover him;
        the willows of the brook surround him.
    23   Behold, if the river is turbulent he is not frightened;
        he is confident though Jordan rushes against his mouth.
    24   Can one take him by his eyes,
        or pierce his nose with a snare?

    Job 42

    Job’s Confession and Repentance

    42:1 Then Job answered the LORD and said:

    2   “I know that you can do all things,
        and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
    3   ‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
      Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
        things too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
    4   ‘Hear, and I will speak;
        I will question you, and you make it known to me.’
    5   I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
        but now my eye sees you;
    6   therefore I despise myself,
        and repent in dust and ashes.”

    The Lord Rebukes Job’s Friends

    7 After the LORD had spoken these words to Job, the LORD said to Eliphaz the Temanite: “My anger burns against you and against your two friends, for you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has. 8 Now therefore take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my servant Job and offer up a burnt offering for yourselves. And my servant Job shall pray for you, for I will accept his prayer not to deal with you according to your folly. For you have not spoken of me what is right, as my servant Job has.” 9 So Eliphaz the Temanite and Bildad the Shuhite and Zophar the Naamathite went and did what the LORD had told them, and the LORD accepted Job’s prayer.

    The Lord Restores Job’s Fortunes

    10 And the LORD restored the fortunes of Job, when he had prayed for his friends. And the LORD gave Job twice as much as he had before. 11 Then came to him all his brothers and sisters and all who had known him before, and ate bread with him in his house. And they showed him sympathy and comforted him for all the evil that the LORD had brought upon him. And each of them gave him a piece of money and a ring of gold.

    12 And the LORD blessed the latter days of Job more than his beginning. And he had 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 yoke of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. 13 He had also seven sons and three daughters. 14 And he called the name of the first daughter Jemimah, and the name of the second Keziah, and the name of the third Keren-happuch. 15 And in all the land there were no women so beautiful as Job’s daughters. And their father gave them an inheritance among their brothers. 16 And after this Job lived 140 years, and saw his sons, and his sons’ sons, four generations. 17 And Job died, an old man, and full of days.