JOB CHAPTER 39 - 42

JOB 39

1 Can you predict when the wild goats
Upon the rock bring forth like stoats?
Can you tell when the deer give birth?
2 Can you count the months in their worth
That they fulfil, or know the day
And hour when they bring forth to stay?
3 They bow themselves, bring forth their young,
Cast sorrows with a lick of tongue.
4 Their young ones are strong, fed on corn,
Go out not to return where born.
5 Who has sent out the wild ass free?
Or loosed its bands beside the sea?
6 Whose house I’ve made the wilderness,
And barren land for his address.
7 He scorns the multitudes in town,
Regards no driver’s cry and frown.
The mountains are his pasture’s range,
He finds every green thing’s exchange.

Beloved, I’m reconciled to all You do,
The evil things men accuse You in pew
Of perpetrating on the pleasant earth.
I’m reconciled to flood and storm and dearth.
I’m reconciled, Beloved, because You did
One thing that makes up for the evil bid
Of power and punishment, of soul and sin:
You made the wilderness and put therein
The wild ass to run beautiful and grin.
That one act is enough to serve the sound
Of universe for square, and cube and round.
I’m reconciled to You, Beloved, who made
The wild ass and put wild ass on parade,
The shy wild ass who never once obeyed.

9 Will the unicorn come serve you,
Abiding by your crib and pew?
10 Can you harness the unicorn
To draw the furrow in his scorn,
To plough the valleys after you?
11 Will you trust him for his great strength,
Leave him your tasks to do at length?
12 Will you believe he’ll bring home seed
Gathered into your barns indeed?
13 Did you create the peacock’s wing,
Or feathers the ostrich may fling?
14 She leaves her eggs upon the earth,
And warms them in the dust for birth.
15 She forgets that the foot may crush,
Or that the preditor may rush.
16 She is hardened against her young,
As though they were not hers where flung,
Her labour’s in vain without fear,
17 Since Allah made no sense appear
In her nor gave her wisdom’s tear.
18 When she flies up, she scorns the horse
As well as its rider in course.

The ostrich and the unicorn no doubt
Show Your wisdom in all things You’re about,
Although the one is stupid and the other
Seems mythological to every brother.
The ostrich and the unicorn jump out
To scare the witches in their dancing bout,
Although the priest and harlot and the mother
Have never caught a glimpse of them to smother.
Beloved, the ostrich is a wondered bird
Whose eggs are laid upon the earth and stirred
For You alone to protect them unerred.
Beloved, the unicorn is wild and free,
And never caught by any likes of me,
And so witnesses to Your unity.

19 Have you given the horse its strength,
And clothed its neck with thunder’s length?
20 Can you make him afraid to be
Like a grasshopper? The glory
Of his nostrils is fine and free.
21 He paws the valley, shakes his mane,
Goes out to meet army on plain.
22 He mocks at fear, and knows no fright,
He does not turn from sword in flight.
23 The quiver rattles at his side,
The glittering spear and shield deride.
24 He swallows the ground with fierce rage,
He gives the trumpet sound no gauge.
25 He whinneys at the trumpet sound,
He smells the battle on the ground,
The thunder of the captains’ voice,
The shouting to fear and rejoice.
26 Does the hawk fly by your esteem,
Stretch her wings toward the southern gleam?
27 Do eagles mount at your command,
To make their nests high above land?
28 She lives and stays upon the rock,
Upon the crag and the strong stock.
29 From there she goes to seek the prey,
Her eyes see it distance away.
30 Her young ones also suck up blood,
She’s where the slain lie in the mud.

You seem, Beloved, enamoured of the horse,
And of the hawk and eagle in their course,
And pass over the grasshopper waylaid
As though he had no merits to be paid.
I protest You and all of humankind
Who ignore the grasshopper, you the blind
Who watch the games of men in jumping high
And praise the highest jumper going by
With gold and silver medals on the sky.
Leave off those poor and sad men to their blame
And raise the great grasshopper to his fame.
How many body lengths can he jump now,
While men are plodding underneath the plough!
The best are always ignored anyhow.

JOB 40

1 And so YHWH answered Job and said
2 “Shall the one who meets the Shaddai
Teach Him a thing? He that reproves
Allah, answer Him as behoves?”
3 Then Job replied to YHWH and said
4 “See, I am vile, what’s to be said?
I’ll lay my hand on my mouth spread.
5 “Once I spoke, I shall not reply,
Twice, but ask no more which or why.”
6 YHWH answered Job from the whirlwind,
And said, Hitch up your pants and skinned,
I’ll ask you, you will answer Me.
8 Will you annul My just decree?
Will you condemn Me and go free
To condemn those acting justly?

You try to make it sound like those who came
With Christian arguments are not to blame,
But Job instead who speaks the sound and sane.
Job flounders at the vision of Your form,
He knew he would, he said if it got warm
That You would frighten him beyond the sway
Of argument out of the light of day.
How is it that Job’s always right no matter
What he comes to say about the meat platter?
He might as well have stuck here to his guns
For all the leeway You give him in runs.
I’ll keep that thing in mind if ever I
Am faced with visions of You going by.
You’re not One to be trusted on the sly.

9 Have you an arm like that of El?
Can you thunder like his voice spell?
10 Dress yourself in your majesty,
Array you in glory’s beauty.
11 Scatter like sparks your rage and wrath,
Find out the proud and spoil his path.
12 Look on the proud, and bring him low,
Tread down the wicked in their row.
13 Hide them together in the dust,
Bind their faces in secret must.
14 Then I’ll confess that your right hand
Can save you in a troubled land.

Job does not need an arm of strength like Yours
To be able to say when he’s indoors
Whether he’s stolen silver from the plot
Of neighbour, friend or foe as like as not.
It does not take the power of universe
Creating to call up the right or worse.
You gave us all ten words to know the course
We ought to travel through cacti and gorse.
Job never said his own right hand could save,
He just complained that You, though strong and brave,
Let him fall in the hand of Saracen,
And under the vile tongue of Christian men.
Beloved, scatter the sparks of Your own rage,
Our business is ten words upon the page.

15 See now behemoth I have made
With you, he eats grass unafraid
Just like the ox set on parade.
16 See how his strength is in his haunch,
His force in navel of his paunch.
17 He moves his tail like cedar beam,
The sinews of his tight hips gleam.
18 He is the chief of El’s creation,
He that made him can make the ration
Of His sword flash upon his station.
20 The mountains surely bring him food,
Where beasts of the field play in brood.
21 He lies under the shady trees,
Hidden by reed and fen from breeze.
22 The leafy trees give him their shade,
The willow brooks surround his glade.
23 See how he drinks a river up,
And hurries not to fill his cup,
He knows he can take on his tongue
The whole of the Jordan in rung.
24 What man can catch him by the eyes,
Or pierce his maw and take for prize?

Behemoth is a great beast that You made
To cover over continents once stayed,
And thunder on the plains and on the hills
To find his drink in rivers and not rills.
Behemoth is an image that abounds
Across the dry lands to the sea-scape sounds,
Whose shadow is a fearsome thing to see
Above the plateaux garnished with no tree.
Beloved, the king of land’s behemoth and
The king of sea the great leviathanned,
Before whom no man yet could ever stand.
And yet all men are called once before You
To stand in judgement for the things they do,
Not for the weakness of flesh like the dew.

JOB 41

1 Can you draw out leviathan
With a hook and a line in span?
Or pull his tongue with cord let down?
2 Can you put a ring in his nose,
Or stick a thorn through his jaws’ pros?
3 Will he beg you for mercy’s sake?
Will he please words for his mistake?
4 Will he make a treaty with you?
Will you take him for servant due?
5 Will you play with him like a bird,
Caged up for your maids on their curd?
6 Shall the companions make a feast
Of him cut in choice parts at least?
7 Can you fill his skin with iron barbs,
Or his head with fish spears for garbs?
8 Lay your hand on him, mind the war,
Do this alone and do no more.
9 See, trusting in him is but vain,
His very sight makes him to reign.
10 No one’s so fierce that he will dare
To stir him up out of his lair,
So who can stand up before Me?

So who can stand up before You, You ask?
Is there no basic difference in mask
Between You and leviathan, I say?
Leviathan is without mercy’s way,
While You are supposed to be full of grace
And mercy in the way You act in place.
That’s why these men are arguing. They find
That where there is no mercy of the kind,
And man is suffering pain, he must be fined
For his transgressions while we were well wined.
A man can stand before You and not where
Leviathan is thrashing on the air
Because of Your grace and Your mercy there.
Your question, My Beloved, is just not fair.

11 Who has come before Me so I
Should give him the price for to spy?
Mine are all things under the sky.
12 I’ll not conceal his parts or power,
Nor his good proportions an hour.
13 Who can uncover him his shroud,
Or come with double bit allowed?
14 Who can open doors of his face?
His teeth are terrible in place.
15 His scales are his pride, tight as steel,
Closed and shut up as with a seal.
16 One is so closely joined to other
That no air comes between to smother.
17 They are joined each to each, they stick
Together and are not cut quick.
18 He sneezes and turns on a light,
His eyelids like the morning bright.
19 Out of his mouth go burning lamps,
And sparks of fire leap out like tramps.
20 Out of his nostrils there goes smoke,
As from a pot or caldron broke.
21 His breath kindles coals, and a flame
Goes out of his mouth for a game.
22 In his neck there is strength, and pain
Is turned to joy before his reign.
23 The flakes of his flesh join in one,
They are firm and cannot be won.
24 His heart is as firm as a stone,
Like the bottom of millstone’s throne.
25 When he gets up the mighty fear,
In terror they fail to appear.
26 The sword of the attacker fails,
Spear, dart, and shield before his flails.
27 For him the iron is like the straw,
And brass like rotten wood in craw.
28 The arrow cannot make him flee,
Slingstones turn into stubble scree.
29 Darts are counted as stubble torn,
He laughs at the spear shaken, borne.
30 Sharp stones are under him: he spreads
Sharp pointed things about his sheds.
31 He makes the deep boil like a pot,
He makes the sea like oil in lot.
32 He makes a path shine after him,
The deep as with the frost grown dim.
33 Upon earth there is not his like,
Who’s made without a fear to strike.
34 He sees all heights, he is a king
Over all the proud and foundling.

The dragon is a wonder, one decreed
By all the tales of Orient and seed
Of Western isles before humankind’s greed.
The dragon is a wonder with his breath
Of flames of fire and coals bearing the death
Of every green and fleshed thing in his path.
The dragon is a creature of great wrath.
And yet You know the dragon in his need.
Beloved, the hope of air and fire and sea,
The hopelessness of earth bearing the tree,
All tell a greater story in their way
Than does the flying dragon in its day.
The dragon slips at sunset under wave
And leaves the human soul to face the grave.

JOB 42

1 Then Job replied to YHWH and said,
2 “I know You can do all things spread,
And no thought’s hidden from Your head.
3 “Who tries to hide his thoughts without
Realizing that You’re about?
So I have uttered things that I
Understand not although I spy,
Things beyond my reach in the sky.
4 “Yet hear, I pray, and I will speak,
I’ll ask of You, tell what I seek.
5 “I’ve heard of You by word in ear,
But now I see the thing I fear.
6 “So I take back the speech I made,
Comfort myself in ashes laid.”

I ask myself why Job took back his speech,
And then I wonder why You came to preach.
The only answer I can find is this:
You had to tell of Your power and Your bliss
In all creation, because when Job saw
You in the whirlwind You were held in claw
Of pain and boils like he was, You joined in
The sorrow of Job as if both were sin.
So Job would never recognize His Lord
Scrapping His boils and weeping with the scored.
That vision of You taking part in pain
Gave Job a better answer than the vain
In thoughts his comforters had come to tell.
And so he took back all he said in spell.

7 After YHWH spoke to Job these things,
YHWH said to Eliphaz who springs
From Teman, “My wrath is enflamed
Against you and your two friends blamed,
For you’ve not spoken the thing right
About Me, as Job did, My wight.
8 “So take you seven bullocks drawn
And seven rams upon the lawn,
Go to My servant Job at dawn
And offer up a burnt offering,
And My servant Job for the thing
Will pray for you, him I’ll accept,
Lest I deal with you where you’ve stepped
According to your folly kept,
In that you have not said of Me,
Like My servant Job, faithfully.”

Job never answered Elihu a word,
And now You too ignore that omen bird.
He taught better, more eloquently all
The others said in their falsehood and stall,
But no one paid the least mind to his rant.
The whole crowd must have rested in their cant.
The sacrifice You now require is for
The three alone, Elihu at the door
Is too young to take credit for the wrong.
He only sang a warbling kind of song.
Let me, Beloved, ignore the rabbled fuss
At my words, let me mind they are not worse
Than children, empty children whose vain thought
Is not worth a response when they are caught.

9 So Eliphaz the Temanite
And Bildad too who was Shuhite
And Zophar the Naamathite
Went and did as YHWH told them to,
And YHWH accepted Job in view.
10 And YHWH turned Job’s captivity,
When he prayed for his friends’ degree,
Also YHWH gave Job twice as much
As he had beforehand to touch.
11 His brothers came to him and all
His sisters and friends great and small
And ate with him in his own tent,
And sorrowed for the way things went,
And comforted him for the way
YHWH had brought evil on his day,
And every one gave him a piece
Of money and an earring’s lease
Made of gold to help without cease.

At last we find the kind of comfort that
A Christian and a Jew with well-filled mat
Should bring to friend and brother where he sat.
When sorrow strikes the soul, the preacher’s hand
Should be to comfort all men in the land,
And not to call down fire and brimstone where
A man is bent beneath his load of care.
The friend and relative that came in late
Came in best for both Job and their own fate.
Their kind words and their gold and gifted rate
Call down from You reward, not pain on pate,
And may the reward come in this life too,
And not just in the Judgement Day in view,
Though truth to tell pain is in every pew.

12 So YHWH blessed Job’s end and increase
Beyond his beginning and start,
For he then possessed for his part
Fourteen thousand sheep, also six
Thousand camels to do their tricks,
And a thousand yoke of oxen,
And a thousand she asses then.
13 He had seven sons and three daughters.
14 And called the name, after the slaughters,
Of the first, Jemima, the name
Of the second, Kezia’s fame,
And the name of the third in book,
He called at last Kerenhappuch.
15 In all the land there were not found
Women so fair as daughters round
The hearth of Job, and their dad gave
To them inheritance and slave
Among their brothers safe and sound.
16 After this Job lived many years,
A hundred and forty appears, (or:
And Job lived after his great trial
A hundred seventy a while,
So all his years when counted fast
Were two hundred and forty classed,)
And saw his sons, and his sons’ sons,
Four generations on their buns.
17 So Job died being full of days,
Old and object of all men’s praise.
And it is written that he’ll rise
Again with those whom in their guise
The Lord YHWH will raise [to the skies].

My great joy as I read these words is this:
In every book the sons are named for bliss,
And daughters barely given any kiss,
And if mentioned at all are given just
A number and a wheel upon the dust.
But Job’s sons are forgotten in the list
Of names of righteous ones we should have kissed.
While all the names of daughters are spelled out.
That thing is great and makes me want to shout
For joy that at last tables are reversed,
And daughters are rewarded and not cursed.
Let every man and woman here take note
That women are as great as men in boat,
With Your commands and promises to gloat.

He is described in Syriac
Book to live in land without lack
Of Ausis on the borders of
Idumea and land of love
Arabia, and his name then
Was Jobab, and with Arab wife
He got a son, Ennon,[for life].
He himself was son of Zaré,
A son of Esau in the way,
And his mother was Bosorrha,
He was fifth from Abraham’s day.
These were the kings who ruled Edom,
Which land he also ruled in sum,
First, Balac, the son of Beor,
The name of his town was in score
Dennaba, but after Balac,
Jobab, who is called Job came back,
And after him Asom, was ruled
Out of the land of Thaman [pooled,]
And after him Adad, the son
Of Barad, who destroyed and won
Madiam on plain of Moab,
The name of his city’s confab
Was Gethaim. And his friends who
Came to him were Eliphaz due
Of the sons of Esau, the king
Of the Tamanites, and the spring
Of Bildad, king of Saucheaus,
And Zophar king without a fuss
Of the Mineans’ [following.]

AUTHOR: THOMAS G. MCELWAIN

Copyright © 2007 Adams & McElwain Publishers and Thomas McElwain First Published in two volumes, The Beloved and I 2005, and Led of the Beloved, 2006. Second Edition, 2010 Third and revised edition, 2012 All rights reserved. No part of this verse commentary on the sacred Scriptures may be reproduced, transmitted, or stored in a retrieval system, in any form or by any means, without permission in writing from publisher.

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