Job 41
1 Can you pull out Leviathan with a hook? Can you tie its mouth shut?
“Can you draw out Leviathan with a fish hook, or press down his tongue with a cord?
2 Can you thread a rope through its nose? Can you pass a hook through its jaw?
Can you put a rope into his nose, or pierce his jaw through with a hook?
3 Will it beg you to let it go? Or will it talk softly to you?
Will he make many petitions to you, or will he speak soft words to you?
4 Will it make a contract with you? Will it agree to be your slave forever?
Will he make a covenant with you, that you should take him for a servant forever?
5 Will you play with it like a pet bird? Will you put it on a leash for your girls?
Will you play with him as with a bird? Or will you bind him for your girls?
6 Will your trading partners decide on a price for him, and divide him up among the merchants?
Will traders barter for him? Will they part him amongst the merchants?
7 Can you pierce his skin with many harpoons, its head with fishing spears?
Can you fill his skin with barbed irons, or his head with fish spears?
8 If you were to grab hold of it, imagine the battle you would have! You wouldn't do that again!
Lay your hand on him. Remember the battle, and do so no more.
9 Any hope to capture it is foolish. Anyone who tries is thrown to the ground.
Behold, the hope of him is in vain. Won’t one be cast down even at the sight of him?
10 Since no one has the courage to provoke Leviathan, who would dare to stand up against me?
None is so fierce that he dare stir him up. Who then is he who can stand before me?
11 Who has confronted me with any claim that I should repay? Everything under heaven belongs to me.
Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Everything under the heavens is mine.
12 Let me tell you about Leviathan: its powerful legs and graceful proportions.
“I will not keep silence concerning his limbs, nor his mighty strength, nor his goodly frame.
13 Who can remove its hide? Who can penetrate its double coat of armor?
Who can strip off his outer garment? Who will come within his jaws?
14 Who can open its jaws? Its teeth are terrifying!
Who can open the doors of his face? Around his teeth is terror.
15 Its pride is its rows of scales, closed tightly together.
Strong scales are his pride, shut up together with a close seal.
16 Its scales are so close together that no air can pass between them.
One is so near to another, that no air can come between them.
17 Each scale attaches to the next; they lock together and nothing can penetrate them.
They are joined to one another. They stick together, so that they can’t be pulled apart.
18 When it sneezes light shines out. Its eyes are like the rising sun.
His sneezing flashes out light. His eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
19 Flames pour from its mouth, sparks of fire shoot out.
Out of his mouth go burning torches. Sparks of fire leap out.
20 Smoke comes from its nostrils, like steam from a kettle on a fire made of reeds.
Out of his nostrils a smoke goes, as of a boiling pot over a fire of reeds.
21 Its breath sets fire to charcoal as flames shoot from its mouth.
His breath kindles coals. A flame goes out of his mouth.
22 Its neck is powerful, and all who face him shake with terror.
There is strength in his neck. Terror dances before him.
23 Its body is dense and solid, as if it is made from cast metal.
The flakes of his flesh are joined together. They are firm on him. They can’t be moved.
24 Its heart is rock-hard, like a millstone.
His heart is as firm as a stone, yes, firm as the lower millstone.
25 When it rises, even the powerful are terrified; they retreat as it thrashes about.
When he raises himself up, the mighty are afraid. They retreat before his thrashing.
26 Swords just bounce off it, as do spears, darts, and javelins.
If one attacks him with the sword, it can’t prevail; nor the spear, the dart, nor the pointed shaft.
27 It brushes aside iron like straw, and bronze like rotten wood.
He counts iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood.
28 Arrows cannot make it run away; stones from slingshots are like pieces of stubble.
The arrow can’t make him flee. Sling stones are like chaff to him.
29 Clubs are also treated like stubble; it laughs at the sound made by flying spears.
Clubs are counted as stubble. He laughs at the rushing of the javelin.
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.
His undersides are like sharp potsherds, leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.
31 It churns up the sea like water in a boiling pot, like a steaming bowl when ointment is mixed.
He makes the deep to boil like a pot. He makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
32 It leaves a glistening wake behind it as if the sea had white hair.
He makes a path shine after him. One would think the deep had white hair.
33 There is nothing on earth like it: a creature that has no fear.
On earth there is not his equal, that is made without fear.
34 It looks down on all other creatures. It is the proudest of all.”
He sees everything that is high. He is king over all the sons of pride.”
