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Job

About this book
Chapter 40

1 Then the Lord answered Job: 2 “Will the one who contends with the Almighty correct him? Let the person who accuses God give him an answer!” 3 Then Job answered the Lord: 4 “Indeed, I am completely unworthy—how could I reply to you? I put my hand over my mouth to silence myself. 5 I have spoken once, but I cannot answer; twice, but I will say no more.” 6 Then the Lord answered Job from the whirlwind: 7 “Get ready for a difficult task like a man. I will question you, and you will inform me.⁠ 8 Would you indeed annul my justice? Would you declare me guilty so that you might be right? 9 Do you have an arm as powerful as God’s, and can you thunder with a voice like his? 10 Adorn yourself, then, with majesty and excellency, and clothe yourself with glory and honor. 11 Scatter abroad the abundance of your anger. Look at every proud man and bring him low. 12 Look at every proud man and abase him; crush the wicked on the spot. 13 Hide them in the dust together; imprison them in the grave. 14 Then I myself will acknowledge to you that your own right hand can save you. 15 “Look now at Behemoth, which I made as I made you;⁠ it eats grass like the ox.⁠ 16 Look at its strength in its loins and its power in the muscles of its belly. 17 It makes its tail stiff like a cedar; the sinews of its thighs are tightly wound. 18 Its bones are tubes of bronze, its limbs like bars of iron. 19 It ranks first among the works of God; the One who made it has furnished it with a sword. 20 For the hills bring it food, where all the wild animals play. 21 Under the lotus trees it lies, in the secrecy of the reeds and the marsh. 22 The lotus trees conceal it in their shadow; the poplars by the stream conceal it. 23 If the river rages, it is not disturbed; it is secure, though the Jordan should surge up to its mouth. 24 Can anyone catch it by its eyes or pierce its nose with a snare?

Texts in conversation

Compare Job 40:15 and 1 Enoch 60:8

Hebrew Bible · Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses

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Summary

Job describes Behemoth as a mythological creature with unmatched strength, and 1 Enoch expands on this by pairing Behemoth with Leviathan as two great creatures formed at creation and given roles in the final judgment.

Passages

Job 40:15

Hebrew Bible
15 “Look now at Behemoth, which I made as I made you; it eats grass like the ox. 16 Look at its strength in its loins and its power in the muscles of its belly. 17 It makes its tail stiff like a cedar; the sinews of its thighs are tightly wound. 18 Its bones are tubes of bronze, its limbs like bars of iron. 19 It ranks first among the works of God; the One who made it has furnished it with a sword.
500–401 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Job

1 Enoch 60:8

Pseudepigrapha, Apocalypses
6 And when the day of power, punishment, and judgment comes, which the Lord of Spirits has prepared for those who do not worship the righteous law, and for those who deny the righteous judgment, and for those who take His name in vain—that day is prepared, for the chosen a covenant, but for sinners an inquisition. 7 On that day, two great monsters were separated, a female monster named Leviathan, to dwell in the depths of the ocean over the springs of waters. 8 The male is named Behemoth, who with his chest occupies a desolate wilderness named Dûidâin, east of the garden where the chosen and righteous dwell, where my grandfather was taken up, the seventh from Adam, the first man whom the Lord of Spirits created.
300 BCE – 100 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in 1 Enoch

References

"... 1 Enoch 60:1-10 ... The two points of variation at the ends of the respective lines reflect linguistic usage elsewhere in the Parables' descriptions of the final judgment ... see, for example, Genesis 8:4 where the ark comes to rest on the mountains of Ararat; and Isaiah 11:2 with reference to the spirit of YHWH. For the negative use with reference to God's punishment, see Exodus 10:14, Isaiah 7:19; Targum Isaiah 11:2 ..."
George W. E. Nickelsburg, A Commentary on the Book of 1 Enoch Chapters 37-82 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 2012), 238–239.

References are not endorsements of their contents. Read each reference in full to understand its author's intentions in using these texts.

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Job 40:15 and 1 Enoch 60:8

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