Job 41
1 Can you pull out Leviathan with a hook? Can you tie its mouth shut?
Is it possible for Leviathan to be pulled out with a fish-hook, or for a hook to be put through the bone of his mouth?
2 Can you thread a rope through its nose? Can you pass a hook through its jaw?
Will you put a cord into his nose, or take him away with a cord round his tongue?
3 Will it beg you to let it go? Or will it talk softly to you?
Will he make prayers to you, or say soft words to you?
4 Will it make a contract with you? Will it agree to be your slave forever?
Will he make an agreement with you, so that you may take him as a servant for ever?
5 Will you play with it like a pet bird? Will you put it on a leash for your girls?
Will you make sport with him, as with a bird? or put him in chains for your young women?
6 Will your trading partners decide on a price for him, and divide him up among the merchants?
Will the fishermen make profit out of him? will they have him cut up for the traders?
7 Can you pierce his skin with many harpoons, its head with fishing spears?
Will you put sharp-pointed irons into his skin, or fish-spears into his head?
8 If you were to grab hold of it, imagine the battle you would have! You wouldn't do that again!
Only put your hand on him, and see what a fight you will have; you will not do it again!
9 Any hope to capture it is foolish. Anyone who tries is thrown to the ground.
Truly, the hope of his attacker is false; he is overcome even on seeing him!
10 Since no one has the courage to provoke Leviathan, who would dare to stand up against me?
He is so cruel that no one is ready to go against him. Who then is able to keep his place before me?
11 Who has confronted me with any claim that I should repay? Everything under heaven belongs to me.
Who ever went against me, and got the better of me? There is no one under heaven!
12 Let me tell you about Leviathan: its powerful legs and graceful proportions.
I will not keep quiet about the parts of his body, or about his power, and the strength of his frame.
13 Who can remove its hide? Who can penetrate its double coat of armor?
Who has ever taken off his outer skin? who may come inside his inner coat of iron?
14 Who can open its jaws? Its teeth are terrifying!
Who has made open the doors of his face? Fear is round about his teeth.
15 Its pride is its rows of scales, closed tightly together.
His back is made of lines of plates, joined tight together, one against the other, like a stamp.
16 Its scales are so close together that no air can pass between them.
One is so near to the other that no air may come between them.
17 Each scale attaches to the next; they lock together and nothing can penetrate them.
They take a grip of one another; they are joined together, so that they may not be parted.
18 When it sneezes light shines out. Its eyes are like the rising sun.
His sneezings give out flames, and his eyes are like the eyes of the dawn.
19 Flames pour from its mouth, sparks of fire shoot out.
Out of his mouth go burning lights, and flames of fire are jumping up.
20 Smoke comes from its nostrils, like steam from a kettle on a fire made of reeds.
Smoke comes out of his nose, like a pot boiling on the fire.
21 Its breath sets fire to charcoal as flames shoot from its mouth.
His breath puts fire to coals, and a flame goes out of his mouth.
22 Its neck is powerful, and all who face him shake with terror.
Strength is in his neck, and fear goes dancing before him.
23 Its body is dense and solid, as if it is made from cast metal.
The plates of his flesh are joined together, fixed, and not to be moved.
24 Its heart is rock-hard, like a millstone.
His heart is as strong as a stone, hard as the lower crushing-stone.
25 When it rises, even the powerful are terrified; they retreat as it thrashes about.
When he gets ready for the fight, the strong are overcome with fear.
26 Swords just bounce off it, as do spears, darts, and javelins.
The sword may come near him but is not able to go through him; the spear, or the arrow, or the sharp-pointed iron.
27 It brushes aside iron like straw, and bronze like rotten wood.
Iron is to him as dry grass, and brass as soft wood.
28 Arrows cannot make it run away; stones from slingshots are like pieces of stubble.
The arrow is not able to put him to flight: stones are no more to him than dry stems.
29 Clubs are also treated like stubble; it laughs at the sound made by flying spears.
A thick stick is no better than a leaf of grass, and he makes sport of the onrush of the spear.
30 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.
Under him are sharp edges of broken pots: as if he was pulling a grain-crushing instrument over the wet earth.
31 It churns up the sea like water in a boiling pot, like a steaming bowl when ointment is mixed.
The deep is boiling like a pot of spices, and the sea like a perfume-vessel.
32 It leaves a glistening wake behind it as if the sea had white hair.
After him his way is shining, so that the deep seems white.
33 There is nothing on earth like it: a creature that has no fear.
On earth there is not another like him, who is made without fear.
34 It looks down on all other creatures. It is the proudest of all.”
Everything which is high goes in fear of him; he is king over all the sons of pride.
