Job 26

Then Job answered:

1But Job answered and said,

NoteJob is replying to Bildad, whose speech in the previous chapter was only a few lines long. Verses 2–4 are addressed to a single person ("you" is singular in Hebrew).

2"What help have you been to someone who has no power? How have you rescued an arm that has no strength?

2How hast thou helped him that is without power? how savest thou the arm that hath no strength?

NoteVerses 2–4 are sarcasm. Job is not thanking Bildad; he is mocking the smallness of what Bildad said, as if to a man who congratulates himself for rescuing someone who was never in danger. "An arm that has no strength" is a stock Hebrew phrase for a person with no power to act.

3What advice have you given to someone with no wisdom? How fully you have made the matter plain!

3How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdom? and how hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is?

4Who were you speaking these words to? And whose spirit was speaking through you?

4To whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit came from thee?

Note"Whose spirit was speaking through you" asks where Bildad got his words, from what source or inspiration. It is part of the same mockery, not a real question.

5The dead tremble, those who are beneath the waters and everything that lives there.

5Dead things are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof.

NoteThe word behind "the dead" is Rephaim, a Hebrew term for the shades or ghosts of the dead; elsewhere in the Old Testament the same word names an ancient race of giants. In the picture assumed here, the realm of the dead lies below the earth, underneath the deep waters that the earth was thought to rest on.

6The place of the dead lies open before God, and the place of ruin has nothing to cover it.

6Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.

Note"The place of the dead" is Sheol, the Hebrew name for the underworld where everyone, good or bad, was thought to go. "The place of ruin" is Abaddon, a Hebrew word meaning "destruction," used here as a second name for the same region. The point of the line is that these hidden places are not hidden from God.

7He stretches out the northern sky over empty space. He hangs the earth on nothing at all.

7He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.

NoteThe Hebrew word for "north" (tsaphon) meant both the northern part of the sky and Mount Zaphon, the far-northern mountain that Canaanite tradition made the home of the gods. Either sense fits, and the line may be playing on both.

8He wraps up the waters inside his thick clouds, and the clouds do not split open under the weight.

8He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.

9He shuts off the view of his throne, spreading his cloud across the face of it.

9He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it.

NoteThe Hebrew word here can mean either "throne" or "full moon" (the two words are spelled almost identically), so the line is either about God veiling his throne or about him covering the moon with cloud. Translations divide between the two.

10He marked out a circle on the surface of the waters, right at the boundary where light ends and darkness begins.

10He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.

NoteThe "circle" is the horizon, the ring where sky appears to meet sea. Ancient writers pictured it as a line drawn on the water marking where daylight stops and darkness starts.

11The pillars that hold up the sky shake and are stunned at his rebuke.

11The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof.

NoteIn the world-picture used here the sky is a solid dome resting on columns, usually imagined as mountains at the far edges of the earth. "Rebukes" is the language used of shouting down an enemy; the pillars shudder at God's shout.

12By his power he stirs up the sea, and by his understanding he shatters Rahab.

12He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud.

NoteRahab is not the woman of Jericho. It is the name of a sea monster of chaos in ancient Near Eastern storytelling, a creature the creator god defeats to establish order. The name is also used elsewhere in the Old Testament as a nickname for Egypt.

13By his breath the skies are swept clear. His hand pierced the gliding serpent.

13By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.

Note"Breath" and "spirit" and "wind" are all one word in Hebrew (ruach), so the line can be heard as wind clearing the sky. The "gliding serpent" (the phrase can also be rendered "fleeing serpent") is another chaos monster of the sea, related to Leviathan; some readers have taken it as the name of a constellation.

14Look, these are only the outer edges of what he does. How faint is the whisper of him that we hear! Who then could understand the thunder of his power?"

14Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?