Job 41
1 But wilt thou catch the serpent with a hook, and put a halter about his nose?
Can you pull out Leviathan with a hook? Can you tie its mouth shut?
2 Or wilt thou fasten a ring in his nostril, and bore his lip with a clasp?
Can you thread a rope through its nose? Can you pass a hook through its jaw?
3 Will he address thee with a petition? softly, with the voice of a suppliant?
Will it beg you to let it go? Or will it talk softly to you?
4 And will he make a covenant with thee? and wilt thou take him for a perpetual servant?
Will it make a contract with you? Will it agree to be your slave forever?
5 And wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or bind him as a sparrow for a child?
Will you play with it like a pet bird? Will you put it on a leash for your girls?
6 And do the nations feed upon him, and the nations of the Phoenicians share him?
Will your trading partners decide on a price for him, and divide him up among the merchants?
7 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.
Can you pierce his skin with many harpoons, its head with fishing spears?
8 But thou shalt lay thy hand upon him [once], remembering the war that is waged by his mouth; and let it not be done any more.
If you were to grab hold of it, imagine the battle you would have! You wouldn't do that again!
9 Hast thou not seen him? and hast thou not wondered at the things said [of him]?
Any hope to capture it is foolish. Anyone who tries is thrown to the ground.
10 Dost thou not fear because preparation has been made by me? for who is there that resists me?
Since no one has the courage to provoke Leviathan, who would dare to stand up against me?
11 Or who will resist me, and abide, since the whole [world] under heaven is mine?
Who has confronted me with any claim that I should repay? Everything under heaven belongs to me.
12 I will not be silent because of him: though because of his power [one] shall pity his antagonist.
Let me tell you about Leviathan: its powerful legs and graceful proportions.
13 Who will open the face of his garment? and who can enter within the fold of his breastplate?
Who can remove its hide? Who can penetrate its double coat of armor?
14 Who will open the doors of his face? terror is round about his teeth.
Who can open its jaws? Its teeth are terrifying!
15 His inwards are as brazen plates, and the texture of his [skin] as a smyrite stone.
Its pride is its rows of scales, closed tightly together.
16 One [part] cleaves fast to another, and the air cannot come between them.
Its scales are so close together that no air can pass between them.
17 They will remain united each to the other: they are closely joined, and cannot be separated.
Each scale attaches to the next; they lock together and nothing can penetrate them.
18 At his sneezing a light shines, and his eyes are [as] the appearance of the morning star.
When it sneezes light shines out. Its eyes are like the rising sun.
19 Out of his mouth proceed as it were burning lamps, and as it were hearths of fire are cast abroad.
Flames pour from its mouth, sparks of fire shoot out.
20 Out of his nostrils proceeds smoke of a furnace burning with fire of coals.
Smoke comes from its nostrils, like steam from a kettle on a fire made of reeds.
21 His breath is [as] live coals, and a flame goes out of his mouth.
Its breath sets fire to charcoal as flames shoot from its mouth.
22 And power is lodged in his neck, before him destruction runs.
Its neck is powerful, and all who face him shake with terror.
23 The flesh also of his body is joined together: [if one] pours [violence] upon him, he shall not be moved.
Its body is dense and solid, as if it is made from cast metal.
24 His heart is firm as a stone, and it stands like an unyielding anvil.
Its heart is rock-hard, like a millstone.
25 And when he turns, [he is] a terror to the four-footed wild beasts which leap upon the earth.
When it rises, even the powerful are terrified; they retreat as it thrashes about.
26 If spears should come against him, [men] will effect nothing, [either with] the spear or the breast-plate.
Swords just bounce off it, as do spears, darts, and javelins.
27 For he considers iron as chaff, and brass as rotten wood.
It brushes aside iron like straw, and bronze like rotten wood.
28 The bow of brass shall not would him, he deems a slinger as grass.
Arrows cannot make it run away; stones from slingshots are like pieces of stubble.
29 Mauls are counted as stubble; and he laughs to scorn the waving of the firebrand.
Clubs are also treated like stubble; it laughs at the sound made by flying spears.
30 His lair is [formed of] sharp points; and all the gold of the sea under him is an immense [quantity of] clay.
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 deep boil like a brazen caldron; and he regards the sea as a pot of ointment,
It churns up the sea like water in a boiling pot, like a steaming bowl when ointment is mixed.
32 and the lowest part of the deep as a captive: he reckons the deep as [his] range.
It leaves a glistening wake behind it as if the sea had white hair.
33 There is nothing upon the earth like to him, formed to be sported with by my angels.
There is nothing on earth like it: a creature that has no fear.
34 He beholds every high thing: and he is king of all that are in the waters.
It looks down on all other creatures. It is the proudest of all.”
