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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 Targum Psalm 50:10

Hebrew Bible · Targum

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Summary

Job 40 describes the creature Behemoth like an ox and as a grazing animal, and the Targum of Psalm 50 develops this by describing a wild ox reserved in Eden for the righteous. Together, these reinforce the association of Behemoth with an ox.

Passages

Job 40:15

Hebrew Bible
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.
500–401 BCE (scholarly estimate) Read in Job

Targum Psalm 50:10

Targum
8 I am not rebuking you on account of your sacrifices that you did not offer before me in exile, for your holocausts that your fathers offered are in front of me always. 9 From the day that my sanctuary was laid waste, I have not accepted a bull from your hands, or rams from your flock. 10 For mine are all the animals of the forest, and I have prepared for the righteous in the Garden of Eden clean beasts and a wild bull who grazes every day on a thousand mountains. 11 Manifest before me are all the kinds of birds who fly in the air of heaven; and the rooster whose legs rest on the earth, while his head reaches to heaven, rejoicing before me. 12 If the time of the continual morning sacrifice should arrive, I would not tell you; for mine is the earth and its fullness.
200–600 CE (scholarly estimate) Read in Targum Psalms

References

“... In this respect, it is noteworthy that Behemoth is often understood as an ox in various Jewish materials, while Leviathan is often portrayed as a lion. Thus, Alexander Kulik notes that Behemoth appears as the Wild Ox, shor ha-bar [...] in some Jewish sources. Such an identification is found already in Job 40:15: “Look at Behemoth, which I made just as I made you; it eats grass like an ox.” Targumic sources further elaborate on this symbolism. From Targum on Psalms 50:10, for instance, one learns: “For every animal of the forest is mine, and in the Garden of Eden I designated for the righteous the clean beasts and the wild ox that grazes all day long (on) a thousand mountains.” ...”
Andrei Orlov, Supernal Serpent: Mysteries of Leviathan in Judaism and Christianity (New York: Oxford University Press, 2023), 143–144.

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 Targum Psalm 50:10

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