Job 41
1 “Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook or tie down his tongue with a rope?
Canst thou draw out the leviathan with a hook, or canst thou tie his tongue with a cord?
2 Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?
Canst thou put a ring in his nose, or bore through his jaw with a buckle?
3 Will he beg you for mercy or speak to you softly?
Will he make many supplications to thee, or speak soft words to thee?
4 Will he make a covenant with you to take him as a slave for life?
Will he make a covenant with thee, and wilt thou take him to be a servant for ever?
5 Can you pet him like a bird or put him on a leash for your maidens?
Shalt thou play with him as with a bird, or tie him up for thy handmaids?
6 Will traders barter for him or divide him among the merchants?
Shall friends cut him in pieces, shall merchants divide him?
7 Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?
Wilt thou fill nets with his skin, and the cabins of fishes with his head?
8 If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the battle and never repeat it!
Lay thy hand upon him: remember the battle, and speak no more.
9 Surely hope of overcoming him is false. Is not the sight of him overwhelming?
Behold his hope shall fail him, and in the sight of all he shall be cast down.
10 No one is so fierce as to rouse Leviathan. Then who is able to stand against Me?
I will not stir him up, like one that is cruel: for who can resist my countenance?
11 Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Everything under heaven is Mine.
Who hath given me before that I should repay him? All things that are under heaven are mine.
12 I cannot keep silent about his limbs, his power and graceful form.
I will not spare him, nor his mighty words, and framed to make supplication.
13 Who can strip off his outer coat? Who can approach him with a bridle?
Who can discover the face of his garment? or who can go into the midst of his mouth?
14 Who can open his jaws, ringed by his fearsome teeth?
Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about.
15 His rows of scales are his pride, tightly sealed together.
His body is like molten shields, shut close up with scales pressing upon one another.
16 One scale is so near to another that no air can pass between them.
One is joined to another, and not so much as any air can come between them:
17 They are joined to one another; they clasp and cannot be separated.
They stick one to another and they hold one another fast, and shall not be separated.
18 His snorting flashes with light, and his eyes are like the rays of dawn.
His sneezing is like the shining of fire, and his eyes like the eyelids of the morning.
19 Firebrands stream from his mouth; fiery sparks shoot forth!
Out of his mouth go forth lamps, like torches of lighted fire.
20 Smoke billows from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.
Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, like that of a pot heated and boiling.
21 His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames pour from his mouth.
His breath kindleth coals, and a flame cometh forth out of his mouth.
22 Strength resides in his neck, and dismay leaps before him.
In his neck strength shall dwell, and want goeth before his face.
23 The folds of his flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable.
The members of his flesh cleave one to another: he shall send lightnings against him, and they shall not be carried to another place.
24 His chest is as hard as a rock, as hard as a lower millstone!
His heart shall be as hard as a stone, and as firm as a smith’s anvil.
25 When Leviathan rises up, the mighty are terrified; they withdraw before his thrashing.
When he shall raise him up, the angels shall fear, and being affrighted shall purify themselves.
26 The sword that reaches him has no effect, nor does the spear or dart or arrow.
When a sword shall lay at him, it shall not be able to hold, nor a spear, nor a breastplate.
27 He regards iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood.
For he shall esteem iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood.
28 No arrow can make him flee; slingstones become like chaff to him.
The archer shall not put him to flight, the stones of the sling are to him like stubble.
29 A club is regarded as straw, and he laughs at the sound of the lance.
As stubble will he esteem the hammer, and he will laugh him to scorn who shaketh the spear.
30 His undersides are jagged potsherds, spreading out the mud like a threshing sledge.
The beams of the sun shall be under him, and he shall strew gold under him like mire.
31 He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron; he makes the sea like a jar of ointment.
He shall make the deep sea to boil like a pot, and shall make it as when ointments boil.
32 He leaves a glistening wake behind him; one would think the deep had white hair!
A path shall shine after him, he shall esteem the deep as growing old.
33 Nothing on earth is his equal— a creature devoid of fear!
There is no power upon earth that can be compared with him who was made to fear no one.
34 He looks down on all the haughty; he is king over all the proud.”
He beholdeth every high thing, he is king over all the children of pride.
