Job 41

1 “Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook or tie down his tongue with a rope?

1 “Can you draw out Leviathan with a fish hook, or press down his tongue with a cord?

2 Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?

2 Can you put a rope into his nose, or pierce his jaw through with a hook?

3 Will he beg you for mercy or speak to you softly?

3 Will he make many petitions to you, or will he speak soft words to you?

4 Will he make a covenant with you to take him as a slave for life?

4 Will he make a covenant with you, that you should take him for a servant forever?

5 Can you pet him like a bird or put him on a leash for your maidens?

5 Will you play with him as with a bird? Or will you bind him for your girls?

6 Will traders barter for him or divide him among the merchants?

6 Will traders barter for him? Will they part him among the merchants?

7 Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?

7 Can you fill his skin with barbed irons, or his head with fish spears?

8 If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the battle and never repeat it!

8 Lay your hand on him. Remember the battle, and do so no more.

9 Surely hope of overcoming him is false. Is not the sight of him overwhelming?

9 Behold, the hope of him is in vain. Won’t one be cast down even at the sight of him?

10 No one is so fierce as to rouse Leviathan. Then who is able to stand against Me?

10 None is so fierce that he dare stir him up. Who then is he who can stand before me?

11 Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Everything under heaven is Mine.

11 Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Everything under the heavens is mine.

12 I cannot keep silent about his limbs, his power and graceful form.

12 “I will not keep silence concerning his limbs, nor his mighty strength, nor his goodly frame.

13 Who can strip off his outer coat? Who can approach him with a bridle?

13 Who can strip off his outer garment? Who will come within his jaws?

14 Who can open his jaws, ringed by his fearsome teeth?

14 Who can open the doors of his face? Around his teeth is terror.

15 His rows of scales are his pride, tightly sealed together.

15 Strong scales are his pride, shut up together with a close seal.

16 One scale is so near to another that no air can pass between them.

16 One is so near to another, that no air can come between them.

17 They are joined to one another; they clasp and cannot be separated.

17 They are joined to one another. They stick together, so that they can’t be pulled apart.

18 His snorting flashes with light, and his eyes are like the rays of dawn.

18 His sneezing flashes out light. His eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

19 Firebrands stream from his mouth; fiery sparks shoot forth!

19 Out of his mouth go burning torches. Sparks of fire leap out.

20 Smoke billows from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.

20 Out of his nostrils a smoke goes, as of a boiling pot over a fire of reeds.

21 His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames pour from his mouth.

21 His breath kindles coals. A flame goes out of his mouth.

22 Strength resides in his neck, and dismay leaps before him.

22 There is strength in his neck. Terror dances before him.

23 The folds of his flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable.

23 The flakes of his flesh are joined together. They are firm on him. They can’t be moved.

24 His chest is as hard as a rock, as hard as a lower millstone!

24 His heart is as firm as a stone, yes, firm as the lower millstone.

25 When Leviathan rises up, the mighty are terrified; they withdraw before his thrashing.

25 When he raises himself up, the mighty are afraid. They retreat before his thrashing.

26 The sword that reaches him has no effect, nor does the spear or dart or arrow.

26 If one attacks him with the sword, it can’t prevail; nor the spear, the dart, nor the pointed shaft.

27 He regards iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood.

27 He counts iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood.

28 No arrow can make him flee; slingstones become like chaff to him.

28 The arrow can’t make him flee. Sling stones are like chaff to him.

29 A club is regarded as straw, and he laughs at the sound of the lance.

29 Clubs are counted as stubble. He laughs at the rushing of the javelin.

30 His undersides are jagged potsherds, spreading out the mud like a threshing sledge.

30 His undersides are like sharp potsherds, leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.

31 He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron; he makes the sea like a jar of ointment.

31 He makes the deep to boil like a pot. He makes the sea like a pot of ointment.

32 He leaves a glistening wake behind him; one would think the deep had white hair!

32 He makes a path shine after him. One would think the deep had white hair.

33 Nothing on earth is his equal—a creature devoid of fear!

33 On earth there is not his equal, that is made without fear.

34 He looks down on all the haughty; he is king over all the proud.”

34 He sees everything that is high. He is king over all the sons of pride.”