Job 41
1 Can you pull out Leviathan with a hook? Can you tie its mouth shut?
Can you draw out the leviathan with a hook, and can you bind his tongue with a cord?
2 Can you thread a rope through its nose? Can you pass a hook through its jaw?
Can you place a ring in his nose, or bore through his jaw with an arm band?
3 Will it beg you to let it go? Or will it talk softly to you?
Will he offer many prayers to you, or speak to you quietly?
4 Will it make a contract with you? Will it agree to be your slave forever?
Will he form a covenant with you, and will you accept him as 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 tether him for your handmaids?
6 Will your trading partners decide on a price for him, and divide him up among the merchants?
Will your friends cut him into pieces, will dealers distribute him?
7 Can you pierce his skin with many harpoons, its head with fishing spears?
Will you fill up bags with his hide, and let his head be used as a home for fishes?
8 If you were to grab hold of it, imagine the battle you would have! You wouldn't do that again!
Place your hand upon him; remember the battle and speak no more.
9 Any hope to capture it is foolish. Anyone who tries is thrown to the ground.
Behold, his hope will fail him, and in the sight of all, he will be thrown down.
10 Since no one has the courage to provoke Leviathan, who would dare to stand up against me?
I will not rouse him, as the cruel would do, for who is able to withstand my countenance?
11 Who has confronted me with any claim that I should repay? Everything under heaven belongs to me.
Who has given to me beforehand, so that I should repay him? All things that are under heaven are mine.
12 Let me tell you about Leviathan: its powerful legs and graceful proportions.
I will not spare him, nor his powerful words and counterfeit attempts at supplication.
13 Who can remove its hide? Who can penetrate its double coat of armor?
Who can reveal the beauty of his garment? And who can enter the middle of his mouth?
14 Who can open its jaws? Its teeth are terrifying!
Who can open the doors of his face? I gave fear to the circle of his teeth.
15 Its pride is its rows of scales, closed tightly together.
His body is like shields fused together, like dense scales pressed over one another.
16 Its scales are so close together that no air can pass between them.
One is joined to another, and not even air can pass between them.
17 Each scale attaches to the next; they lock together and nothing can penetrate them.
They adhere to one another, and they hold themselves in place and will not be separated.
18 When it sneezes light shines out. Its eyes are like the rising sun.
His sneezing has the brilliance of fire, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
19 Flames pour from its mouth, sparks of fire shoot out.
Lamps proceed from his mouth, like torches of fire burning brightly.
20 Smoke comes from its nostrils, like steam from a kettle on a fire made of reeds.
Smoke passes out of his nostrils, like a pot that is heated and boiling.
21 Its breath sets fire to charcoal as flames shoot from its mouth.
His breath causes coal to burn, and a flame comes forth from his mouth.
22 Its neck is powerful, and all who face him shake with terror.
Strength dwells in his neck, and destitution goes before his presence.
23 Its body is dense and solid, as if it is made from cast metal.
The parts of his body work in harmony together. He will send lightning bolts against him, and they will not be carried to another place.
24 Its heart is rock-hard, like a millstone.
His heart will be as hard as a stone and as dense as a blacksmith’s anvil.
25 When it rises, even the powerful are terrified; they retreat as it thrashes about.
When he will be raised up, the angels will be afraid, and, because they are terrified, they will purify themselves.
26 Swords just bounce off it, as do spears, darts, and javelins.
When a sword catches up with him, it will not be able to settle in, nor a spear, nor a breastplate.
27 It brushes aside iron like straw, and bronze like rotten wood.
For he will consider iron as if it were chaff, and brass as if it were rotten wood.
28 Arrows cannot make it run away; stones from slingshots are like pieces of stubble.
The archer will not cause him to flee; the stones of the sling have been turned into stubble for him.
29 Clubs are also treated like stubble; it laughs at the sound made by flying spears.
He will treat the hammer as if it were stubble, and he will ridicule those who brandish 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.
The beams of the sun will be under him, and he will dispense gold to them as if it were clay.
31 It churns up the sea like water in a boiling pot, like a steaming bowl when ointment is mixed.
He will make the depths of the sea boil like a pot, and he will set it to bubble just as ointments do.
32 It leaves a glistening wake behind it as if the sea had white hair.
A path will shine after him; he will esteem the abyss as if it were weakening with age.
33 There is nothing on earth like it: a creature that has no fear.
There is no power on the earth that is being compared to him, who has been made so that he fears no one.
34 It looks down on all other creatures. It is the proudest of all.”
He sees every prominent thing; he is king over all the sons of arrogance.
