< Job 41 >
1 “Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook or tie down his tongue with a rope?
Canst thou draw out leviathan with a fish hook? or press down 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 rope into his nose? or pierce his jaw through with a hook?
3 Will he beg you for mercy or speak to you softly?
Will he make many supplications unto thee? or will he speak soft words unto thee?
4 Will he make a covenant with you to take him as a slave for life?
Will he make a covenant with thee, that thou shouldest take him for a servant for ever?
5 Can you pet him like a bird or put him on a leash for your maidens?
Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens?
6 Will traders barter for him or divide him among the merchants?
Shall the bands [of fishermen] make traffic of him? shall they part him among the merchants?
7 Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?
Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons, or his head with fish spears?
8 If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the battle and never repeat it!
Lay thine hand upon him; remember the battle, and do so no more.
9 Surely hope of overcoming him is false. Is not the sight of him overwhelming?
Behold, the hope of him is in vain: shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him?
10 No one is so fierce as to rouse Leviathan. Then who is able to stand against Me?
None is so fierce that he dare stir him up: who then is he that can stand before me?
11 Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Everything under heaven is Mine.
Who hath first given unto me, that I should repay him? [whatsoever is] under the whole heaven is mine.
12 I cannot keep silent about his limbs, his power and graceful form.
I will not keep silence concerning his limbs, nor his mighty strength, nor his comely proportion.
13 Who can strip off his outer coat? Who can approach him with a bridle?
Who can strip off his outer garment? who shall come within his double bridle?
14 Who can open his jaws, ringed by his fearsome teeth?
Who can open the doors of his face? round about his teeth is terror.
15 His rows of scales are his pride, tightly sealed together.
His strong scales are [his] pride, shut up together [as with] a close seal.
16 One scale is so near to another that no air can pass between them.
One is so near to another, that no air can come between them.
17 They are joined to one another; they clasp and cannot be separated.
They are joined one to another; they stick together, that they cannot be sundered.
18 His snorting flashes with light, and his eyes are like the rays of dawn.
His neesings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
19 Firebrands stream from his mouth; fiery sparks shoot forth!
Out of his mouth go burning torches, and sparks of fire leap forth.
20 Smoke billows from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.
Out of his nostrils a smoke goeth, as of a seething pot and [burning] rushes.
21 His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames pour from his mouth.
His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth forth from his mouth.
22 Strength resides in his neck, and dismay leaps before him.
In his neck abideth strength, and terror danceth before him.
23 The folds of his flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable.
The flakes of his flesh are joined together: they are firm upon him; they cannot be moved.
24 His chest is as hard as a rock, as hard as a lower millstone!
His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, firm as the nether millstone.
25 When Leviathan rises up, the mighty are terrified; they withdraw before his thrashing.
When he raiseth himself up, the mighty are afraid: by reason of consternation they are beside themselves.
26 The sword that reaches him has no effect, nor does the spear or dart or arrow.
If one lay at him with the sword, it cannot avail; nor the spear, the dart, nor the pointed shaft.
27 He regards iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood.
He counteth iron as straw, [and] brass as rotten wood.
28 No arrow can make him flee; slingstones become like chaff to him.
The arrow cannot make him flee: slingstones are turned with him into stubble.
29 A club is regarded as straw, and he laughs at the sound of the lance.
Clubs are counted as stubble: he laugheth at the rushing of the javelin.
30 His undersides are jagged potsherds, spreading out the mud like a threshing sledge.
His underparts are [like] sharp potsherds: he spreadeth [as it were] a threshing wain upon the mire.
31 He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron; he makes the sea like a jar of ointment.
He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like ointment.
32 He leaves a glistening wake behind him; one would think the deep had white hair!
He maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary.
33 Nothing on earth is his equal— a creature devoid of fear!
Upon earth there is not his like, that is made without fear.
34 He looks down on all the haughty; he is king over all the proud.”
He beholdeth every thing that is high: he is king over all the sons of pride.