Job 41
1 Can you draw out the leviathan with a hook, and can you bind his tongue with a cord?
“Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook or tie down his tongue with a rope?
2 Can you place a ring in his nose, or bore through his jaw with an arm band?
Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?
3 Will he offer many prayers to you, or speak to you quietly?
Will he beg you for mercy or speak to you softly?
4 Will he form a covenant with you, and will you accept him as a servant forever?
Will he make a covenant with you to take him as a slave for life?
5 Will you play with him as with a bird, or tether him for your handmaids?
Can you pet him like a bird or put him on a leash for your maidens?
6 Will your friends cut him into pieces, will dealers distribute him?
Will traders barter for him or divide him among the merchants?
7 Will you fill up bags with his hide, and let his head be used as a home for fishes?
Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?
8 Place your hand upon him; remember the battle and speak no more.
If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the battle and never repeat it!
9 Behold, his hope will fail him, and in the sight of all, he will be thrown down.
Surely hope of overcoming him is false. Is not the sight of him overwhelming?
10 I will not rouse him, as the cruel would do, for who is able to withstand my countenance?
No one is so fierce as to rouse Leviathan. Then who is able to stand against Me?
11 Who has given to me beforehand, so that I should repay him? All things that are under heaven are mine.
Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Everything under heaven is Mine.
12 I will not spare him, nor his powerful words and counterfeit attempts at supplication.
I cannot keep silent about his limbs, his power and graceful form.
13 Who can reveal the beauty of his garment? And who can enter the middle of his mouth?
Who can strip off his outer coat? Who can approach him with a bridle?
14 Who can open the doors of his face? I gave fear to the circle of his teeth.
Who can open his jaws, ringed by his fearsome teeth?
15 His body is like shields fused together, like dense scales pressed over one another.
His rows of scales are his pride, tightly sealed together.
16 One is joined to another, and not even air can pass between them.
One scale is so near to another that no air can pass between them.
17 They adhere to one another, and they hold themselves in place and will not be separated.
They are joined to one another; they clasp and cannot be separated.
18 His sneezing has the brilliance of fire, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
His snorting flashes with light, and his eyes are like the rays of dawn.
19 Lamps proceed from his mouth, like torches of fire burning brightly.
Firebrands stream from his mouth; fiery sparks shoot forth!
20 Smoke passes out of his nostrils, like a pot that is heated and boiling.
Smoke billows from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.
21 His breath causes coal to burn, and a flame comes forth from his mouth.
His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames pour from his mouth.
22 Strength dwells in his neck, and destitution goes before his presence.
Strength resides in his neck, and dismay leaps before him.
23 The parts of his body work in harmony together. He will send lightning bolts against him, and they will not be carried to another place.
The folds of his flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable.
24 His heart will be as hard as a stone and as dense as a blacksmith’s anvil.
His chest is as hard as a rock, as hard as a lower millstone!
25 When he will be raised up, the angels will be afraid, and, because they are terrified, they will purify themselves.
When Leviathan rises up, the mighty are terrified; they withdraw before his thrashing.
26 When a sword catches up with him, it will not be able to settle in, nor a spear, nor a breastplate.
The sword that reaches him has no effect, nor does the spear or dart or arrow.
27 For he will consider iron as if it were chaff, and brass as if it were rotten wood.
He regards iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood.
28 The archer will not cause him to flee; the stones of the sling have been turned into stubble for him.
No arrow can make him flee; slingstones become like chaff to him.
29 He will treat the hammer as if it were stubble, and he will ridicule those who brandish the spear.
A club is regarded as straw, and he laughs at the sound of the lance.
30 The beams of the sun will be under him, and he will dispense gold to them as if it were clay.
His undersides are jagged potsherds, spreading out the mud like a threshing sledge.
31 He will make the depths of the sea boil like a pot, and he will set it to bubble just as ointments do.
He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron; he makes the sea like a jar of ointment.
32 A path will shine after him; he will esteem the abyss as if it were weakening with age.
He leaves a glistening wake behind him; one would think the deep had white hair!
33 There is no power on the earth that is being compared to him, who has been made so that he fears no one.
Nothing on earth is his equal— a creature devoid of fear!
34 He sees every prominent thing; he is king over all the sons of arrogance.
He looks down on all the haughty; he is king over all the proud.”
