Job humbles himself to God, 1-5. God stirs him up to show his righteousness, power, and wisdom, 6-15. Of the behemoth, 16-24.
1 Moreover, the LORD answered Job and said,
2 "Shall he who contends with the Almighty instruct him?/
He who reproves God, let him answer it."
3 Then Job answered the LORD and said,
4 "Behold, I am vile./
What shall I answer you?/
I will lay my hand upon my mouth.
5 Once I have spoken, but I will not answer,/
even twice, but I will proceed no further."
6 Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,
7 "Now gird up your loins like a man./
I will demand of you, and you declare to me.
8 Will you also disannul my judgment?/
Will you condemn me so that you may be righteous?
9 Have you an arm like God?/
Or can you thunder with a voice like his?
10 Deck yourself now with majesty and excellence/
and array yourself with glory and beauty.
11 Cast abroad the rage of your wrath./
Behold everyone who is proud and abase him.
12 Look at everyone who is proud and bring him low./
Tread down the wicked in their place.
13 Hide them in the dust together./
Bind their faces in secret.
14 Then I will also confess to you/
that your own right hand can save you.
15 Behold now behemoth, which I made with you,/
he eats grass as an ox.
16 Behold now, his strength is in his loins/
and his force is in the navel of his belly.
17 He moves his tail like a cedar./
The sinews of his male organs are wrapped together.
18 His bones are as strong pieces of brass./
His bones are like bars of iron.
19 He is the chief of the ways of God./
He who made him can make his sword to approach him.
20 Surely the mountains bring him forth food,/
and all the beasts of the field play there.
21 He lies under the shady trees,/
in the covert of the reed and mire.
22 The shady trees cover him with their shadow./
The willows of the brook encompass him.
23 Behold, he drinks up a river and does not hasten./
He trusts that he can draw up the Jordan into his mouth.
24 He takes it with his eyes./
His nose pierces through snares."
Matthew Henry Commentary - Job, Chapter 40[➚]
John Gill's Chapter Summary:
In this chapter Job is called upon to give in his answer (verses 1-2), which he does in the most humble manner, acknowledging his vileness and folly (verses 3-5); and then the Lord proceeds to give him further conviction of his superior justice and power (verses 6-9); and one thing he proposes to him, to humble the proud, if he could, and then he would acknowledge that his own right hand could save him (verses 10-15); and observes to him another instance of his power in a creature called behemoth, which he had made, and gives a description of (verses 15-24).
[v.15a] - "behemoth" - Hebrew: בהמות (be-hay-mohth')—the hippopotamus or Nile-horse (of Egyptian derivation). LXX: "wild beasts." From The Pulpit Commentary: "The mammoth, the rhinoceros, the hippopotamus, and the elephant have been suggested. Of these the mammoth is precluded by the want of any evidence that it existed in Job's day, and the rhinoceros by the absence of any allusion to its peculiar feature. Authorities are divided almost equally between the elephant and the hippopotamus; but the best recent Hebraists and naturalists incline rather to the latter."
[v.15b] - "which I made with you" - This text may also be read as, "which I made as well as you," or, "which I made along with you."