Job 41
1 “Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook or tie down his tongue with a rope?
But will you catch the serpent with a hook, and put a halter about his nose?
2 Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?
Or will you fasten a ring in his nostril, and bore his lip with a clasp?
3 Will he beg you for mercy or speak to you softly?
Will he address you with a petition? softly, with the voice of a suppliant?
4 Will he make a covenant with you to take him as a slave for life?
And will he make a covenant with you? and will you take him for a perpetual servant?
5 Can you pet him like a bird or put him on a leash for your maidens?
And will you play with him as with a bird? or bind him as a sparrow for a child?
6 Will traders barter for him or divide him among the merchants?
And do the nations feed upon him, and the nations of the Phoenicians share him?
7 Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?
And all the ships come together would not be able to bear the mere skin of his tail; neither [shall they carry] his head in fishing vessels.
8 If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the battle and never repeat it!
But you shall lay your hand upon him [once], remembering the war that is waged by his mouth; and let it not be done any more.
9 Surely hope of overcoming him is false. Is not the sight of him overwhelming?
Hast you not seen him? and have you not wondered at the things said [of him]?
10 No one is so fierce as to rouse Leviathan. Then who is able to stand against Me?
Do you not fear because preparation has been made by me? for who is there that resists me?
11 Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Everything under heaven is Mine.
Or who will resist me, and abide, since the whole [world] under heaven is mine?
12 I cannot keep silent about his limbs, his power and graceful form.
I will not be silent because of him: though because of his power [one] shall pity his antagonist.
13 Who can strip off his outer coat? Who can approach him with a bridle?
Who will open the face of his garment? and who can enter within the fold of his breastplate?
14 Who can open his jaws, ringed by his fearsome teeth?
Who will open the doors of his face? terror is round about his teeth.
15 His rows of scales are his pride, tightly sealed together.
His inwards are as brazen plates, and the texture of his [skin] as a smyrite stone.
16 One scale is so near to another that no air can pass between them.
One [part] cleaves fast to another, and the air can’t come between them.
17 They are joined to one another; they clasp and cannot be separated.
They will remain united each to the other: they are closely joined, and can’t be separated.
18 His snorting flashes with light, and his eyes are like the rays of dawn.
At his sneezing a light shines, and his eyes are [as] the appearance of the morning star.
19 Firebrands stream from his mouth; fiery sparks shoot forth!
Out of his mouth proceed as it were burning lamps, and as it were hearths of fire are cast abroad.
20 Smoke billows from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.
Out of his nostrils proceeds smoke of a furnace burning with fire of coals.
21 His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames pour from his mouth.
His breath is [as] live coals, and a flame goes out of his mouth.
22 Strength resides in his neck, and dismay leaps before him.
And power is lodged in his neck, before him destruction runs.
23 The folds of his flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable.
The flesh also of his body is joined together: [if one] pours [violence] upon him, he shall not be moved.
24 His chest is as hard as a rock, as hard as a lower millstone!
His heart is firm as a stone, and it stands like an unyielding anvil.
25 When Leviathan rises up, the mighty are terrified; they withdraw before his thrashing.
And when he turns, [he is] a terror to the four-footed wild beasts which leap upon the earth.
26 The sword that reaches him has no effect, nor does the spear or dart or arrow.
If spears should come against him, [men] will effect nothing, [either with] the spear or the breast-plate.
27 He regards iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood.
For he considers iron as chaff, and brass as rotten wood.
28 No arrow can make him flee; slingstones become like chaff to him.
The bow of brass shall not would him, he deems a slinger as grass.
29 A club is regarded as straw, and he laughs at the sound of the lance.
Mauls are counted as stubble; and he laughs to scorn the waving of the firebrand.
30 His undersides are jagged potsherds, spreading out the mud like a threshing sledge.
His lair is [formed of] sharp points; and all the gold of the sea under him is an immense [quantity of] clay.
31 He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron; he makes the sea like a jar of ointment.
He makes the deep boil like a brazen caldron; and he regards the sea as a pot of ointment,
32 He leaves a glistening wake behind him; one would think the deep had white hair!
and the lowest part of the deep as a captive: he reckons the deep as [his] range.
33 Nothing on earth is his equal— a creature devoid of fear!
There is nothing upon the earth like to him, formed to be sported with by my angels.
34 He looks down on all the haughty; he is king over all the proud.”
He beholds every high thing: and he is king of all that are in the waters.
