Out of the Storm

In context

At last the Lord answers Job “out of the whirlwind” (Job 38:1). He asks Job question after question. Where was Job when the earth’s foundations were laid, when “the morning stars sang together” (38:4–7)? Can he command the morning, or bind the Pleiades and loosen Orion (38:12, 31)? Can he feed the lion and the raven (38:39–41)? He points to animal after animal: the mountain goats, the wild donkey and the wild ox, the ostrich, the war horse, the hawk and the eagle, and two mighty creatures, behemoth and Leviathan; the WEB’s note calls Leviathan “a crocodile or similar creature” (39:1–30; 40:15; 41:1).

Job answers, “I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear, but now my eye sees you” (42:5). The Lord tells Eliphaz that he and his two friends have not spoken rightly of him, as Job has, and that Job will pray for them (42:7–8). When Job prays for his friends, the Lord gives him twice as much as he had before: 14,000 sheep instead of 7,000, and 6,000 camels instead of 3,000 (42:10, 12; 1:3). Ezekiel later names Job beside Noah and Daniel (Ezekiel 14:14).