WATCHMAN33
Job covers his mouth beside a reed-filled river where a colossal grass-eating behemoth rests powerfully beneath willow trees.
KING JAMES VERSION

JOB 40

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CHAPTER VISUAL

Job 40 — Job lays his hand upon his mouth, and the LORD challenges human pride and points to the untamable strength of behemoth.

About this illustration

Job’s humbled response and the behemoth poem share one symbolic landscape. Behemoth is rendered as a massive ancient land creature without claiming a certain modern species, and God is not shown bodily.

Scripture basis: Job 40:1–24
  1. 1Moreover the LORD answered Job, and said,
  2. 2Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him? he that reproveth God, let him answer it.
  3. 3 Then Job answered the LORD, and said,
  4. 4Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
  5. 5Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further.
  6. 6 Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind, and said,
  7. 7Gird up thy loins now like a man: I will demand of thee, and declare thou unto me.
  8. 8Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous?
  9. 9Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?
  10. 10Deck thyself now with majesty and excellency; and array thyself with glory and beauty.
  11. 11Cast abroad the rage of thy wrath: and behold every one that is proud, and abase him.
  12. 12Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low; and tread down the wicked in their place.
  13. 13Hide them in the dust together; and bind their faces in secret.
  14. 14Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee.
  15. 15 Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox.
  16. 16Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly.
  17. 17He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together.
  18. 18His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron.
  19. 19He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.
  20. 20Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play.
  21. 21He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens.
  22. 22The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about.
  23. 23Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth.
  24. 24He taketh it with his eyes: his nose pierceth through snares.

King James Version · Standardized 1769 text with Strong’s numbering · Public domain outside the United Kingdom

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