Job 41
1 “Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook or tie down his tongue with a rope?
Can you pull out Leviathan with a hook? Can you tie its mouth shut?
2 Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?
Can you thread a rope through its nose? Can you pass a hook through its jaw?
3 Will he beg you for mercy or speak to you softly?
Will it beg you to let it go? Or will it talk softly to you?
4 Will he make a covenant with you to take him as a slave for life?
Will it make a contract with you? Will it agree to be your slave forever?
5 Can you pet him like a bird or put him on a leash for your maidens?
Will you play with it like a pet bird? Will you put it on a leash for your girls?
6 Will traders barter for him or divide him among the merchants?
Will your trading partners decide on a price for him, and divide him up among the merchants?
7 Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?
Can you pierce his skin with many harpoons, its head with fishing spears?
8 If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the battle and never repeat it!
If you were to grab hold of it, imagine the battle you would have! You wouldn't do that again!
9 Surely hope of overcoming him is false. Is not the sight of him overwhelming?
Any hope to capture it is foolish. Anyone who tries is thrown to the ground.
10 No one is so fierce as to rouse Leviathan. Then who is able to stand against Me?
Since no one has the courage to provoke Leviathan, who would dare to stand up against me?
11 Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Everything under heaven is Mine.
Who has confronted me with any claim that I should repay? Everything under heaven belongs to me.
12 I cannot keep silent about his limbs, his power and graceful form.
Let me tell you about Leviathan: its powerful legs and graceful proportions.
13 Who can strip off his outer coat? Who can approach him with a bridle?
Who can remove its hide? Who can penetrate its double coat of armor?
14 Who can open his jaws, ringed by his fearsome teeth?
Who can open its jaws? Its teeth are terrifying!
15 His rows of scales are his pride, tightly sealed together.
Its pride is its rows of scales, closed tightly together.
16 One scale is so near to another that no air can pass between them.
Its scales are so close together that no air can pass between them.
17 They are joined to one another; they clasp and cannot be separated.
Each scale attaches to the next; they lock together and nothing can penetrate them.
18 His snorting flashes with light, and his eyes are like the rays of dawn.
When it sneezes light shines out. Its eyes are like the rising sun.
19 Firebrands stream from his mouth; fiery sparks shoot forth!
Flames pour from its mouth, sparks of fire shoot out.
20 Smoke billows from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.
Smoke comes from its nostrils, like steam from a kettle on a fire made of reeds.
21 His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames pour from his mouth.
Its breath sets fire to charcoal as flames shoot from its mouth.
22 Strength resides in his neck, and dismay leaps before him.
Its neck is powerful, and all who face him shake with terror.
23 The folds of his flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable.
Its body is dense and solid, as if it is made from cast metal.
24 His chest is as hard as a rock, as hard as a lower millstone!
Its heart is rock-hard, like a millstone.
25 When Leviathan rises up, the mighty are terrified; they withdraw before his thrashing.
When it rises, even the powerful are terrified; they retreat as it thrashes about.
26 The sword that reaches him has no effect, nor does the spear or dart or arrow.
Swords just bounce off it, as do spears, darts, and javelins.
27 He regards iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood.
It brushes aside iron like straw, and bronze like rotten wood.
28 No arrow can make him flee; slingstones become like chaff to him.
Arrows cannot make it run away; stones from slingshots are like pieces of stubble.
29 A club is regarded as straw, and he laughs at the sound of the lance.
Clubs are also treated like stubble; it laughs at the sound made by flying spears.
30 His undersides are jagged potsherds, spreading out the mud like a threshing sledge.
Its underparts are covered with points as sharp as broken pots; when it drags itself through the mud it leaves marks like a threshing sledge.
31 He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron; he makes the sea like a jar of ointment.
It churns up the sea like water in a boiling pot, like a steaming bowl when ointment is mixed.
32 He leaves a glistening wake behind him; one would think the deep had white hair!
It leaves a glistening wake behind it as if the sea had white hair.
33 Nothing on earth is his equal— a creature devoid of fear!
There is nothing on earth like it: a creature that has no fear.
34 He looks down on all the haughty; he is king over all the proud.”
It looks down on all other creatures. It is the proudest of all.”
