1Job replied,2‘Bildad, you haven’t helped people who aren’t strong! You haven’t saved people who are weak!3You haven’t offered advice to those who aren’t wise! In fact, you haven’t understood anything at all!4Who helped you say these things? Whose spirit was speaking through you?5‘The spirits of the dead are suffering greatly. So are those that are under the waters. And so are all those that live in them.6The place of the dead is naked in the sight of God. The grave lies open in front of him.7He spreads out the northern skies over empty space. He hangs the earth over nothing.8He wraps up water in his clouds. They are heavy, but they don’t burst.9He covers the face of the full moon. He spreads his clouds over it.10He marks out the place where the sky meets the sea. He marks out the boundary between light and darkness.11The pillars of the heavens shake. They are terrified when his anger blazes out.12With his power he stirred up the oceans. In his wisdom he cut the sea monster Rahab to pieces.13His breath made the skies bright and clear. His hand wounded the snake that glides through the sea.14Those are only on the edges of what he does. They are only the soft whispers that we hear from him. So who can understand how very powerful he is?’
1Then Job answered and said:2“How you have helped him who has no power! How you have saved the arm that has no strength! (Ge 49:24; Isa 40:29; Ho 7:15)3How you have counseled him who has no wisdom, and plentifully declared sound knowledge! (Ps 73:24; Jas 1:5)4With whose help have you uttered words, and whose breath has come out from you? (Ge 2:7)5The dead tremble under the waters and their inhabitants. (Ps 88:10)6Sheol is naked before God,[1] and Abaddon has no covering. (Ps 139:8; Pr 15:11; Re 9:11)7He stretches out the north over the void and hangs the earth on nothing. (Ge 1:2; Job 9:8)8He binds up the waters in his thick clouds, and the cloud is not split open under them. (Pr 30:4)9He covers the face of the full moon[2] and spreads over it his cloud. (Job 36:29)10He has inscribed a circle on the face of the waters at the boundary between light and darkness. (Job 38:8; Ps 33:7; Pr 8:29; Jer 5:22)11The pillars of heaven tremble and are astounded at his rebuke. (Job 9:6; Ps 75:3; Ps 104:7)12By his power he stilled the sea; by his understanding he shattered Rahab. (Job 9:13; Isa 51:15; Jer 31:35)13By his wind the heavens were made fair; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent. (Ps 33:6; Isa 27:1)14Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways, and how small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?” (Job 4:12; Job 40:19)