1 Then Job answered:

2 How you have helped  * the powerless

and delivered the arm that is weak!

3 How you have counseled the unwise  *

and abundantly provided insight!

4 With whom did you speak these words?

Whose breath came out of your mouth?

5 The departed spirits tremble

beneath the waters and all that inhabit them.  *

6 Sheol  * is naked before God,

and Abaddon  * has no covering.  *

7 He stretches the northern skies over empty space;

he hangs the earth on nothing.

8 He wraps up the water in his clouds,

yet the clouds do not burst beneath its weight.  *

9 He obscures the view of his throne,

spreading his cloud over it.

10 He laid out the horizon on the surface of the waters  *

at the boundary between light and darkness.

11 The pillars that hold up the sky tremble,

astounded at his rebuke.  *

12 By his power he stirred  * the sea,

and by his understanding he crushed Rahab.  *

13 By his breath the heavens gained their beauty;

his hand pierced the fleeing serpent.  *,*

14 These are but the fringes of his ways;

how faint is the word we hear of him!

Who can understand his mighty thunder?