Job 40

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¹Then the Lord said to Job, ✦ ²“Do you still want to argue with the Almighty? You are God’s critic, but do you have the answers?” ✦ ³Then Job replied to the Lord, ⁴“I am nothing—how could I ever find the answers? I will cover my mouth with my hand. ✦ ⁵I have said too much already. I have nothing more to say.” ✦ ⁶Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind: ✦ ⁷“Brace yourself like a man, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them. ✦ ⁸“Will you discredit my justice and condemn me just to prove you are right? ✦ ⁹Are you as strong as God? Can you thunder with a voice like his? ✦ ¹⁰All right, put on your glory and splendor, your honor and majesty. ✦ ¹¹Give vent to your anger. Let it overflow against the proud. ✦ ¹²Humiliate the proud with a glance; walk on the wicked where they stand. ✦ ¹³Bury them in the dust. Imprison them in the world of the dead. ✦ ¹⁴Then even I would praise you, for your own strength would save you. ✦ ¹⁵“Take a look at Behemoth, which I made, just as I made you. It eats grass like an ox. ✦ ¹⁶See its powerful loins and the muscles of its belly. ¹⁷Its tail is as strong as a cedar. The sinews of its thighs are knit tightly together. ✦ ¹⁸Its bones are tubes of bronze. Its limbs are bars of iron. ✦ ¹⁹It is a prime example of God’s handiwork, and only its Creator can threaten it. ✦ ²⁰The mountains offer it their best food, where all the wild animals play. ✦ ²¹It lies under the lotus plants, hidden by the reeds in the marsh. ✦ ²²The lotus plants give it shade among the willows beside the stream. ✦ ²³It is not disturbed by the raging river, not concerned when the swelling Jordan rushes around it. ✦ ²⁴No one can catch it off guard or put a ring in its nose and lead it away. ✦

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Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Where this chapter connects

Job 9 ·7 Ps 104 ·5 Job 38 ·3 Job 40 ·3 Job 3 ·3 Job 23 ·3 Job 27 ·3 Job 7 ·3

Christ at the center

Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.

How Job 40 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

Pastoral

SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Job videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Job 40YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Job 40David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on JobMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Job 40Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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