Job 41
1 “Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook or tie down his tongue with a rope?
Is it possible for Leviathan to be pulled out with a fish-hook, or for a hook to be put through the bone of his mouth?
2 Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?
Will you put a cord into his nose, or take him away with a cord round his tongue?
3 Will he beg you for mercy or speak to you softly?
Will he make prayers to you, or say soft words to you?
4 Will he make a covenant with you to take him as a slave for life?
Will he make an agreement with you, so that you may take him as a servant for ever?
5 Can you pet him like a bird or put him on a leash for your maidens?
Will you make sport with him, as with a bird? or put him in chains for your young women?
6 Will traders barter for him or divide him among the merchants?
Will the fishermen make profit out of him? will they have him cut up for the traders?
7 Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?
Will you put sharp-pointed irons into his skin, or fish-spears into his head?
8 If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the battle and never repeat it!
Only put your hand on him, and see what a fight you will have; you will not do it again!
9 Surely hope of overcoming him is false. Is not the sight of him overwhelming?
Truly, the hope of his attacker is false; he is overcome even on seeing him!
10 No one is so fierce as to rouse Leviathan. Then who is able to stand against Me?
He is so cruel that no one is ready to go against him. Who then is able to keep his place before me?
11 Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Everything under heaven is Mine.
Who ever went against me, and got the better of me? There is no one under heaven!
12 I cannot keep silent about his limbs, his power and graceful form.
I will not keep quiet about the parts of his body, or about his power, and the strength of his frame.
13 Who can strip off his outer coat? Who can approach him with a bridle?
Who has ever taken off his outer skin? who may come inside his inner coat of iron?
14 Who can open his jaws, ringed by his fearsome teeth?
Who has made open the doors of his face? Fear is round about his teeth.
15 His rows of scales are his pride, tightly sealed together.
His back is made of lines of plates, joined tight together, one against the other, like a stamp.
16 One scale is so near to another that no air can pass between them.
One is so near to the other that no air may come between them.
17 They are joined to one another; they clasp and cannot be separated.
They take a grip of one another; they are joined together, so that they may not be parted.
18 His snorting flashes with light, and his eyes are like the rays of dawn.
His sneezings give out flames, and his eyes are like the eyes of the dawn.
19 Firebrands stream from his mouth; fiery sparks shoot forth!
Out of his mouth go burning lights, and flames of fire are jumping up.
20 Smoke billows from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.
Smoke comes out of his nose, like a pot boiling on the fire.
21 His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames pour from his mouth.
His breath puts fire to coals, and a flame goes out of his mouth.
22 Strength resides in his neck, and dismay leaps before him.
Strength is in his neck, and fear goes dancing before him.
23 The folds of his flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable.
The plates of his flesh are joined together, fixed, and not to be moved.
24 His chest is as hard as a rock, as hard as a lower millstone!
His heart is as strong as a stone, hard as the lower crushing-stone.
25 When Leviathan rises up, the mighty are terrified; they withdraw before his thrashing.
When he gets ready for the fight, the strong are overcome with fear.
26 The sword that reaches him has no effect, nor does the spear or dart or arrow.
The sword may come near him but is not able to go through him; the spear, or the arrow, or the sharp-pointed iron.
27 He regards iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood.
Iron is to him as dry grass, and brass as soft wood.
28 No arrow can make him flee; slingstones become like chaff to him.
The arrow is not able to put him to flight: stones are no more to him than dry stems.
29 A club is regarded as straw, and he laughs at the sound of the lance.
A thick stick is no better than a leaf of grass, and he makes sport of the onrush of the spear.
30 His undersides are jagged potsherds, spreading out the mud like a threshing sledge.
Under him are sharp edges of broken pots: as if he was pulling a grain-crushing instrument over the wet earth.
31 He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron; he makes the sea like a jar of ointment.
The deep is boiling like a pot of spices, and the sea like a perfume-vessel.
32 He leaves a glistening wake behind him; one would think the deep had white hair!
After him his way is shining, so that the deep seems white.
33 Nothing on earth is his equal— a creature devoid of fear!
On earth there is not another like him, who is made without fear.
34 He looks down on all the haughty; he is king over all the proud.”
Everything which is high goes in fear of him; he is king over all the sons of pride.
