Job 41
1 “Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook or tie down his tongue with a rope?
“Do you draw leviathan with a hook? And do you let down his tongue with a rope?
2 Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?
Do you put a reed in his nose? And pierce his jaw with a thorn?
3 Will he beg you for mercy or speak to you softly?
Does he multiply supplications to you? Does he speak tender things to you?
4 Will he make a covenant with you to take him as a slave for life?
Does he make a covenant with you? Do you take him for a perpetual servant?
5 Can you pet him like a bird or put him on a leash for your maidens?
Do you play with him as a bird? And do you bind him for your girls?
6 Will traders barter for him or divide him among the merchants?
(Companions feast on him, They divide him among the merchants!)
7 Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?
Do you fill his skin with barbed irons? And his head with fish-spears?
8 If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the battle and never repeat it!
Place your hand on him, Remember the battle—do not add!
9 Surely hope of overcoming him is false. Is not the sight of him overwhelming?
Behold, the hope of him is found a liar, Also, is one not cast down at his appearance?
10 No one is so fierce as to rouse Leviathan. Then who is able to stand against Me?
None so fierce that he awakes him, And who [is] he [who] stations himself before Me?
11 Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Everything under heaven is Mine.
Who has brought before Me and I repay? Under the whole heavens it [is] Mine.
12 I cannot keep silent about his limbs, his power and graceful form.
I do not keep silent concerning his parts, And the matter of might, And the grace of his arrangement.
13 Who can strip off his outer coat? Who can approach him with a bridle?
Who has uncovered the face of his clothing? Who enters within his double bridle?
14 Who can open his jaws, ringed by his fearsome teeth?
Who has opened the doors of his face? Around his teeth [are] terrible.
15 His rows of scales are his pride, tightly sealed together.
A pride—strong ones of shields, Shut up—a close seal.
16 One scale is so near to another that no air can pass between them.
They draw near to one another, And air does not enter between them.
17 They are joined to one another; they clasp and cannot be separated.
They adhere to one another, They stick together and are not separated.
18 His snorting flashes with light, and his eyes are like the rays of dawn.
His sneezings cause light to shine, And his eyes [are] as the eyelids of the dawn.
19 Firebrands stream from his mouth; fiery sparks shoot forth!
Flames go out of his mouth, sparks of fire escape.
20 Smoke billows from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.
Smoke goes forth out of his nostrils, As a blown pot and reeds.
21 His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames pour from his mouth.
His breath sets coals on fire, And a flame goes forth from his mouth.
22 Strength resides in his neck, and dismay leaps before him.
Strength lodges in his neck, And grief exults before him.
23 The folds of his flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable.
The flakes of his flesh have adhered—Firm on him—it is not moved.
24 His chest is as hard as a rock, as hard as a lower millstone!
His heart [is] firm as a stone, Indeed, firm as the lower piece.
25 When Leviathan rises up, the mighty are terrified; they withdraw before his thrashing.
The mighty are afraid at his rising, From his breakings they keep themselves free.
26 The sword that reaches him has no effect, nor does the spear or dart or arrow.
The sword of his overtaker does not stand, Spear, dart, and breastplate.
27 He regards iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood.
He reckons iron as straw, bronze as rotten wood.
28 No arrow can make him flee; slingstones become like chaff to him.
The son of the bow does not cause him to flee, Stones of the sling are turned into stubble by him.
29 A club is regarded as straw, and he laughs at the sound of the lance.
Darts have been reckoned as stubble, And he laughs at the shaking of a javelin.
30 His undersides are jagged potsherds, spreading out the mud like a threshing sledge.
Sharp points of clay [are] under him, He spreads gold on the mire.
31 He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron; he makes the sea like a jar of ointment.
He causes the deep to boil as a pot, He makes the sea as a pot of ointment.
32 He leaves a glistening wake behind him; one would think the deep had white hair!
He causes a path to shine after him, One thinks the deep to be hoary.
33 Nothing on earth is his equal— a creature devoid of fear!
There is not on the earth his like, That is made without terror.
34 He looks down on all the haughty; he is king over all the proud.”
He sees every high thing, He [is] king over all sons of pride.”
