Job 41
1 Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook? Or tie up his jaws with a cord?
Can you pull out Leviathan with a hook? Can you tie its mouth shut?
2 Can you put a rope into his nose, or pierce his jaw through with a hook?
Can you thread a rope through its nose? Can you pass a hook through its jaw?
3 Will he make many pleas to you? Will he speak soft words to you?
Will it beg you to let it go? Or will it talk softly to you?
4 Will he make a covenant with you, that you should take him for a servant forever?
Will it make a contract with you? Will it agree to be your slave forever?
5 Will you play with him as you would with a bird? Will you tie him up for your servant girls?
Will you play with it like a pet bird? Will you put it on a leash for your girls?
6 Will the groups of fishermen bargain for him? Will they divide him up to trade among the merchants?
Will your trading partners decide on a price for him, and divide him up among the merchants?
7 Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?
Can you pierce his skin with many harpoons, its 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 were to grab hold of it, imagine the battle you would have! You wouldn't do that again!
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?
Any hope to capture it is foolish. Anyone who tries is thrown to the ground.
10 None is so fierce that he dare stir Leviathan up; who, then, is he who can stand before me?
Since no one has the courage to provoke Leviathan, who would dare to stand up 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 confronted me with any claim that I should repay? Everything under heaven belongs to me.
12 I will not keep silent concerning Leviathan's legs, nor about the matter of his strength, nor about his graceful form.
Let me tell you about Leviathan: its powerful legs and graceful proportions.
13 Who can strip off his outer covering? Who can penetrate his double armor?
Who can remove its hide? Who can penetrate its double coat of armor?
14 Who can open the doors of his face— ringed with his teeth, which are a terror?
Who can open its jaws? Its teeth are terrifying!
15 his back is made up of rows of shields, tight together as with a close seal.
Its pride is its rows of scales, closed tightly together.
16 One is so near to another that no air can come between them.
Its scales are so close together that no air can pass between them.
17 They are joined to each other; they stick together, so that they cannot be pulled apart.
Each scale attaches to the next; they lock together and nothing can penetrate them.
18 Light flashes out from his snorting; his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning dawn.
When it sneezes light shines out. Its eyes are like the rising sun.
19 Out of his mouth go burning torches, sparks of fire leap out.
Flames pour from its mouth, sparks of fire shoot out.
20 Out of his nostrils goes smoke like a boiling pot on a fire that has been fanned to be very hot.
Smoke comes from its nostrils, like steam from a kettle on a fire made of reeds.
21 His breath kindles coals into flame; fires go out from his mouth.
Its breath sets fire to charcoal as flames shoot from its mouth.
22 In his neck is strength, and terror dances in front of him.
Its neck is powerful, and all who face him shake with terror.
23 The folds of his flesh are joined together; they are firm on him; they cannot be moved.
Its body is dense and solid, as if it is made from cast metal.
24 His heart is as hard as a stone— indeed, as hard as a lower millstone.
Its heart is rock-hard, like a millstone.
25 When he raises himself up, even the gods become afraid; because of fear, they draw back.
When it rises, even the powerful are terrified; they retreat as it thrashes about.
26 If a sword strikes him, it does nothing— and neither does a spear, an arrow, or any other pointed weapon.
Swords just bounce off it, as do spears, darts, and javelins.
27 He thinks of iron as if it were straw, and of bronze as if it were rotten wood.
It brushes aside iron like straw, and bronze like rotten wood.
28 An arrow cannot make him flee; to him sling stones become chaff.
Arrows cannot make it run away; stones from slingshots are like pieces of stubble.
29 Clubs are regarded as straw; he laughs at the whirring flight of a spear.
Clubs are also treated like stubble; it laughs at the sound made by flying spears.
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.
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.
31 He makes the deep to foam up like a pot of boiling water; he makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
It churns up the sea like water in a boiling pot, like a steaming bowl when ointment is mixed.
32 He makes a shining wake behind him; one would think the deep had gray hair.
It leaves a glistening wake behind it as if the sea had white hair.
33 On earth there is no equal to him, who has been made to live without fear.
There is nothing on earth like it: a creature that has no fear.
34 He sees everything that is proud; he is king over all the sons of pride.”
It looks down on all other creatures. It is the proudest of all.”
