Job 41
1 Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook? Or tie up his jaws with a cord?
“Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook or tie down his tongue with a rope?
2 Can you put a rope into his nose, or pierce his jaw through with a hook?
Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?
3 Will he make many pleas to you? Will he speak soft words to you?
Will he beg you for mercy or speak to you softly?
4 Will he make a covenant with you, that you should take him for 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 you would with a bird? Will you tie him up for your servant girls?
Can you pet him like a bird or put him on a leash for your maidens?
6 Will the groups of fishermen bargain for him? Will they divide him up to trade among the merchants?
Will traders barter for him or divide him among the merchants?
7 Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?
Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?
8 Put your hand on him just once, and you will remember the battle and do it no more.
If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the battle and never repeat it!
9 See, the hope of anyone who does that is a lie; will not anyone be thrown down to the ground just by the sight of him?
Surely hope of overcoming him is false. Is not the sight of him overwhelming?
10 None is so fierce that he dare stir Leviathan up; who, then, is he who can stand before me?
No one is so fierce as to rouse Leviathan. Then who is able to stand against Me?
11 Who has first given anything to me in order that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole sky is mine.
Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Everything under heaven is Mine.
12 I will not keep silent concerning Leviathan's legs, nor about the matter of his strength, nor about his graceful form.
I cannot keep silent about his limbs, his power and graceful form.
13 Who can strip off his outer covering? Who can penetrate his double armor?
Who can strip off his outer coat? Who can approach him with a bridle?
14 Who can open the doors of his face— ringed with his teeth, which are a terror?
Who can open his jaws, ringed by his fearsome teeth?
15 his back is made up of rows of shields, tight together as with a close seal.
His rows of scales are his pride, tightly sealed together.
16 One is so near to another that no air can come between them.
One scale is so near to another that no air can pass between them.
17 They are joined to each other; they stick together, so that they cannot be pulled apart.
They are joined to one another; they clasp and cannot be separated.
18 Light flashes out from his snorting; his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning dawn.
His snorting flashes with light, and his eyes are like the rays of dawn.
19 Out of his mouth go burning torches, sparks of fire leap out.
Firebrands stream from his mouth; fiery sparks shoot forth!
20 Out of his nostrils goes smoke like a boiling pot on a fire that has been fanned to be very hot.
Smoke billows from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.
21 His breath kindles coals into flame; fires go out from his mouth.
His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames pour from his mouth.
22 In his neck is strength, and terror dances in front of him.
Strength resides in his neck, and dismay leaps before him.
23 The folds of his flesh are joined together; they are firm on him; they cannot be moved.
The folds of his flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable.
24 His heart is as hard as a stone— indeed, as hard as a lower millstone.
His chest is as hard as a rock, as hard as a lower millstone!
25 When he raises himself up, even the gods become afraid; because of fear, they draw back.
When Leviathan rises up, the mighty are terrified; they withdraw before his thrashing.
26 If a sword strikes him, it does nothing— and neither does a spear, an arrow, or any other pointed weapon.
The sword that reaches him has no effect, nor does the spear or dart or arrow.
27 He thinks of iron as if it were straw, and of bronze as if it were rotten wood.
He regards iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood.
28 An arrow cannot make him flee; to him sling stones become chaff.
No arrow can make him flee; slingstones become like chaff to him.
29 Clubs are regarded as straw; he laughs at the whirring flight of a spear.
A club is regarded as straw, and he laughs at the sound of the lance.
30 His lower parts are like sharp pieces of broken pottery; he leaves a spreading trail in the mud as if he were a threshing sledge.
His undersides are jagged potsherds, spreading out the mud like a threshing sledge.
31 He makes the deep to foam up like a pot of boiling water; he makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron; he makes the sea like a jar of ointment.
32 He makes a shining wake behind him; one would think the deep had gray hair.
He leaves a glistening wake behind him; one would think the deep had white hair!
33 On earth there is no equal to him, who has been made to live without fear.
Nothing on earth is his equal— a creature devoid of fear!
34 He sees everything that is proud; he is king over all the sons of pride.”
He looks down on all the haughty; he is king over all the proud.”
