Then the Unnamable Answered Job From Within the Whirlwind
Will you catch the Serpent with a fishhook?
or tie his tongue with a thread?
Will you pass a string through his nose
or crack his jaw with a pin?
Will he plead with you for mercy
and timidly beg your pardon?
Will he come to terms of surrender
and promise to be your slave?
Will you play with him like a sparrow
and put him on a leash for your girls?
Will merchants bid for his carcass
and parcel him out to shops?
Will you riddle his skin with spears,
split his head with harpoons?
Go ahead: attack him:
you wil never try it again.
Look: Hope is a lie:
you would faint at the very sight of him.
Who would dare to arouse him?
Who would stand in his way?
Who under all the heavens
could fight against him and live?
Who could pierce his armor
or shatter his coat of mail?
Who could pry open his jaws,
with their horribled arched teeth?
He sneezes and lightning flash;
his eyes glow like dawn.
Smoke pours from his nostrils
like steam from a boiling pot.
His breath sets coals ablaze;
flames leap from his mouth.
Power beats in his neck,
and terror dances before him.
His skin is hard as a rock,
his heart huge as a boulder.
No sword can stick in his flesh;
javelines shatter against him.
He cracks iron like straw,
bronze like rotten wood.
No arrow can pierce his skin;
slingstones hit him and crumble.
He chews clubs to splinters
and laughs at the quivering spear.
His belly is thick with spikes;
he drags the swamp like a rake.
When he rises the waves fall back
and the breakers tremble before him.
He makes the oceans boil
lashes the sea to a froth.
His wake glistens behind him;
the waters are white with foam.
No one on earth is his equal -
a creature without fear.
He looks down on the highest.
He is king over all the proud beasts.
Then Job Said to the Unnamable:
I know you can do all things
and nothing you wish is impossible
Who is this whose ignorant words
cover my designs with darkness?
I have spoken of the unspeakable
and tried to grasp the infinite.
Listen and I will speak;
I will question you: please, instruct me.
I had heard of you with my ears;
but now my eyes have seen you.
Therefore I will be quiet,
comforted that I am dust.
Epilogue: the Legend
After he had spoken to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaze the Temanite, "I am very angry at you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has. So take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my sevant Job and offer a sacrifice for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and for his sake I will overlook your sin. For you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has." So Eliphaz the Temanite, Blilad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Hamathite went and did what the Lord had commanded. And the Lord accepted Job's prayer.
Then the Lord returned all Job's possessions, and gave him twice as much as he had before. All his relatives and everyone who had known him came to his house to celebrate. They commiserated with him over all the suffering that the Lord had inflicted on him. As they left, each one gave him a coin or a gold ring.
So the Lord blessed the end of Job's life more than the beginning. Job now had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters: the eldest named Dove, the second Cinnamon, and the third Eye-shadow. And in all the world there were no women as beautiful as Job's daughters. He gave them a share of his possessions along with their brothers.
After this, Job lived for a hundred and forty years. He lived to see his grandchildren and his great-grand-children. He died at a very great age.
- Mitchell, Stephen. The Book of Job. Harper Prennial: New York, NY. 86-91.
or tie his tongue with a thread?
Will you pass a string through his nose
or crack his jaw with a pin?
Will he plead with you for mercy
and timidly beg your pardon?
Will he come to terms of surrender
and promise to be your slave?
Will you play with him like a sparrow
and put him on a leash for your girls?
Will merchants bid for his carcass
and parcel him out to shops?
Will you riddle his skin with spears,
split his head with harpoons?
Go ahead: attack him:
you wil never try it again.
Look: Hope is a lie:
you would faint at the very sight of him.
Who would dare to arouse him?
Who would stand in his way?
Who under all the heavens
could fight against him and live?
Who could pierce his armor
or shatter his coat of mail?
Who could pry open his jaws,
with their horribled arched teeth?
He sneezes and lightning flash;
his eyes glow like dawn.
Smoke pours from his nostrils
like steam from a boiling pot.
His breath sets coals ablaze;
flames leap from his mouth.
Power beats in his neck,
and terror dances before him.
His skin is hard as a rock,
his heart huge as a boulder.
No sword can stick in his flesh;
javelines shatter against him.
He cracks iron like straw,
bronze like rotten wood.
No arrow can pierce his skin;
slingstones hit him and crumble.
He chews clubs to splinters
and laughs at the quivering spear.
His belly is thick with spikes;
he drags the swamp like a rake.
When he rises the waves fall back
and the breakers tremble before him.
He makes the oceans boil
lashes the sea to a froth.
His wake glistens behind him;
the waters are white with foam.
No one on earth is his equal -
a creature without fear.
He looks down on the highest.
He is king over all the proud beasts.
Then Job Said to the Unnamable:
I know you can do all things
and nothing you wish is impossible
Who is this whose ignorant words
cover my designs with darkness?
I have spoken of the unspeakable
and tried to grasp the infinite.
Listen and I will speak;
I will question you: please, instruct me.
I had heard of you with my ears;
but now my eyes have seen you.
Therefore I will be quiet,
comforted that I am dust.
Epilogue: the Legend
After he had spoken to Job, the Lord said to Eliphaze the Temanite, "I am very angry at you and your two friends, because you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has. So take seven bulls and seven rams and go to my sevant Job and offer a sacrifice for yourselves. My servant Job will pray for you, and for his sake I will overlook your sin. For you have not spoken the truth about me, as my servant Job has." So Eliphaz the Temanite, Blilad the Shuhite, and Zophar the Hamathite went and did what the Lord had commanded. And the Lord accepted Job's prayer.
Then the Lord returned all Job's possessions, and gave him twice as much as he had before. All his relatives and everyone who had known him came to his house to celebrate. They commiserated with him over all the suffering that the Lord had inflicted on him. As they left, each one gave him a coin or a gold ring.
So the Lord blessed the end of Job's life more than the beginning. Job now had fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, a thousand yoke of oxen, and a thousand donkeys. He also had seven sons and three daughters: the eldest named Dove, the second Cinnamon, and the third Eye-shadow. And in all the world there were no women as beautiful as Job's daughters. He gave them a share of his possessions along with their brothers.
After this, Job lived for a hundred and forty years. He lived to see his grandchildren and his great-grand-children. He died at a very great age.
- Mitchell, Stephen. The Book of Job. Harper Prennial: New York, NY. 86-91.