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Wisdom & Poetry · Old Testament

Job 26

Job 26: Job mocks Bildad's help and describes God's power over sea and sky

General context

Job answers Bildad. He asks how Bildad has helped him that is without power, saved the arm that has no strength, counselled him that has no wisdom, and plentifully declared the thing as it is; he asks to whom Bildad has uttered words and whose spirit came from him. Job then describes God's power. Dead things are formed under the waters; hell is naked before him and destruction has no covering. He stretches out the north over the empty place and hangs the earth upon nothing. He binds up the waters in his thick clouds without the cloud tearing; he holds back the face of his throne and spreads his cloud upon it. He has compassed the waters with bounds until day and night come to an end. The pillars of heaven tremble at his reproof. He divides the sea with his power and by his understanding smites through the proud; by his spirit he has garnished the heavens and his hand has formed the crooked serpent. Job closes: these are parts of his ways, but how little a portion is heard of him, and the thunder of his power who can understand?

Cited passages: Job 26:1, Job 26:2, Job 26:3, Job 26:4, Job 26:5, Job 26:6, Job 26:7, Job 26:8, Job 26:9, Job 26:10, Job 26:11, Job 26:12, Job 26:13, Job 26:14

Job 26 (KJV)

1But Job answered and said,

2How hast thou helped him that is without power? how savest thou the arm that hath no strength?

3How hast thou counselled him that hath no wisdom? and how hast thou plentifully declared the thing as it is?

4To whom hast thou uttered words? and whose spirit came from thee?

5Dead things are formed from under the waters, and the inhabitants thereof.

6Hell is naked before him, and destruction hath no covering.

7He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing.

8He bindeth up the waters in his thick clouds; and the cloud is not rent under them.

9He holdeth back the face of his throne, and spreadeth his cloud upon it.

10He hath compassed the waters with bounds, until the day and night come to an end.

11The pillars of heaven tremble and are astonished at his reproof.

12He divideth the sea with his power, and by his understanding he smiteth through the proud.

13By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.

14Lo, these are parts of his ways: but how little a portion is heard of him? but the thunder of his power who can understand?

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

The heading assigns the chapter to Job, replying to Bildad's six verses. The questions of verses 2 to 4 are addressed to a single "thou," and the one "without power" and with "no wisdom" whom Bildad has supposedly helped is not named; the chapter does not say outright that Job means himself. "Hell" and "destruction" appear as places or powers laid bare before God, without further description. "The crooked serpent" formed by God's hand is not identified in the chapter. Statements such as "hangeth the earth upon nothing" are poetic descriptions within a speech, and the chapter makes no further claim about them. Some readers assign parts of chapters 26 and 27 to other speakers because of their content, but the printed text places this chapter under "But Job answered and said" and the next under "Moreover Job continued his parable."

Cited passages: Job 26:1, Job 26:2, Job 26:3, Job 26:6, Job 26:13, Job 26:7, Job 27:1

Literary context

The chapter has two parts. Four questions beginning "How" or "To whom" open it, each pressing Bildad on what his words accomplished. Then the speech shifts to a run of third-person statements about God, moving upward: under the waters, hell and destruction, the north and the hanging earth, the bound waters and the covered throne, the bounds of the sea, the trembling pillars of heaven, the divided sea, the garnished heavens. The end steps back from the whole list, calling it "parts of his ways" and "how little a portion." The reply to Bildad works by excess. Bildad said dominion and fear are with God and asked whether his armies could be numbered; Job answers with a longer and more detailed account of the same power, which shows that he did not need the lesson. The closing question about the thunder of God's power leaves both speakers on the same ground, agreed that God is beyond understanding and still disagreeing about what that means for Job.

Cited passages: Job 26:2, Job 26:4, Job 26:5, Job 26:7, Job 26:11, Job 26:13, Job 26:14, Job 25:2, Job 25:3

Key moments

  1. How hast thou helped? (Job 26:2). Job asks what Bildad's words have done for one without power.
  2. Whose spirit spoke? (Job 26:4). Job asks to whom Bildad has spoken and whose spirit came from him.
  3. Hell naked before God (Job 26:6). Job says hell and destruction lie uncovered before God.
  4. Earth hung on nothing (Job 26:7). Job says God stretches out the north over the empty place and hangs the earth on nothing.
  5. Pillars of heaven tremble (Job 26:11). Job says the pillars of heaven are astonished at God's reproof.
  6. The sea divided (Job 26:12). Job says God divides the sea and smites through the proud.
  7. Only parts of his ways (Job 26:14). Job closes by saying that all this is a small portion of God's power.

For reflection

Job answers Bildad's six verses on God's greatness with a longer account of the same greatness, then says only "how little a portion" of it is heard. If both men agree that God is beyond understanding, what exactly are they still arguing about?

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