Job 41
1 But will you catch the serpent with a hook, and put a halter about his nose?
“Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook or tie down his tongue with a rope?
2 Or will you fasten a ring in his nostril, and bore his lip with a clasp?
Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?
3 Will he address you with a petition? softly, with the voice of a suppliant?
Will he beg you for mercy or speak to you softly?
4 And will he make a covenant with you? and will you take him for a perpetual servant?
Will he make a covenant with you to take him as a slave for life?
5 And will you play with him as with a bird? or bind him as a sparrow for a child?
Can you pet him like a bird or put him on a leash for your maidens?
6 And do the nations feed upon him, and the nations of the Phoenicians share him?
Will traders barter for him or divide him 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 fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?
8 But you shall lay your hand upon him [once], remembering the war that is waged by his mouth; and let it not be done any more.
If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the battle and never repeat it!
9 Hast you not seen him? and have you not wondered at the things said [of him]?
Surely hope of overcoming him is false. Is not the sight of him overwhelming?
10 Do you not fear because preparation has been made by me? for who is there that resists me?
No one is so fierce as to rouse Leviathan. Then who is able to stand against Me?
11 Or who will resist me, and abide, since the whole [world] under heaven is mine?
Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Everything under heaven is Mine.
12 I will not be silent because of him: though because of his power [one] shall pity his antagonist.
I cannot keep silent about his limbs, his power and graceful form.
13 Who will open the face of his garment? and who can enter within the fold of his breastplate?
Who can strip off his outer coat? Who can approach him with a bridle?
14 Who will open the doors of his face? terror is round about his teeth.
Who can open his jaws, ringed by his fearsome teeth?
15 His inwards are as brazen plates, and the texture of his [skin] as a smyrite stone.
His rows of scales are his pride, tightly sealed together.
16 One [part] cleaves fast to another, and the air can’t come between them.
One scale is so near to another that no air can pass between them.
17 They will remain united each to the other: they are closely joined, and can’t be separated.
They are joined to one another; they clasp and cannot be separated.
18 At his sneezing a light shines, and his eyes are [as] the appearance of the morning star.
His snorting flashes with light, and his eyes are like the rays of dawn.
19 Out of his mouth proceed as it were burning lamps, and as it were hearths of fire are cast abroad.
Firebrands stream from his mouth; fiery sparks shoot forth!
20 Out of his nostrils proceeds smoke of a furnace burning with fire of coals.
Smoke billows from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.
21 His breath is [as] live coals, and a flame goes out of his mouth.
His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames pour from his mouth.
22 And power is lodged in his neck, before him destruction runs.
Strength resides in his neck, and dismay leaps before him.
23 The flesh also of his body is joined together: [if one] pours [violence] upon him, he shall not be moved.
The folds of his flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable.
24 His heart is firm as a stone, and it stands like an unyielding anvil.
His chest is as hard as a rock, as hard as a lower millstone!
25 And when he turns, [he is] a terror to the four-footed wild beasts which leap upon the earth.
When Leviathan rises up, the mighty are terrified; they withdraw before his thrashing.
26 If spears should come against him, [men] will effect nothing, [either with] the spear or the breast-plate.
The sword that reaches him has no effect, nor does the spear or dart or arrow.
27 For he considers iron as chaff, and brass as rotten wood.
He regards iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood.
28 The bow of brass shall not would him, he deems a slinger as grass.
No arrow can make him flee; slingstones become like chaff to him.
29 Mauls are counted as stubble; and he laughs to scorn the waving of the firebrand.
A club is regarded as straw, and he laughs at the sound of the lance.
30 His lair is [formed of] sharp points; and all the gold of the sea under him is an immense [quantity of] clay.
His undersides are jagged potsherds, spreading out the mud like a threshing sledge.
31 He makes the deep boil like a brazen caldron; and he regards the sea as a pot of ointment,
He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron; he makes the sea like a jar of ointment.
32 and the lowest part of the deep as a captive: he reckons the deep as [his] range.
He leaves a glistening wake behind him; one would think the deep had white hair!
33 There is nothing upon the earth like to him, formed to be sported with by my angels.
Nothing on earth is his equal— a creature devoid of fear!
34 He beholds every high thing: and he is king of all that are in the waters.
He looks down on all the haughty; he is king over all the proud.”
