41 “你岂能用鱼钩钓鳄鱼,
用绳索绑住它的舌头?
你岂能用绳子穿它的鼻子,
用钩子穿它的腮骨?
它岂会向你连连求饶,
对你说柔和的话?
它岂肯与你立约,
一生做你的奴隶?
你岂能拿它当小鸟玩耍,
或拴起来给幼女取乐?
渔夫们岂能把它当货物出售,
卖给商人?
你岂能在它皮上戳满长矛,
头上插满鱼叉?
你动手碰碰它,
就知道有何恶战,绝不会再碰。
企图捕捉它的都会失望,
人看到它就会心惊胆战。
10 再凶猛的人也不敢惹它。
这样,谁能在我面前站立得住?
11 谁给过我什么,要我偿还?
天下万物都是我的。

12 “论到它的四肢、大力和姣美的身体,
我不能缄默不言。
13 谁能剥去它的外皮?
谁能给它戴上辔头?
14 谁能打开它的口?
它的牙齿令人恐惧。
15 它的脊背覆着行行鳞甲,
牢牢地密封在一起,
16 紧密无间,
连气也透不进去。
17 鳞甲彼此相连相扣,
无法分开。
18 它打喷嚏时,水光四射;
它的眼睛发出晨光;
19 口中喷出火炬,
迸出火星;
20 鼻孔冒烟,
如沸腾的锅和燃烧的芦苇;
21 呼气可点燃煤炭,
口中喷出火焰;
22 颈项强而有力,
恐惧在它前面开路;
23 身上的皱褶紧密相连,
牢牢地密封在一起;
24 心坚如石,
硬如磨石。
25 它一站起来,勇士都害怕,
见它冲来,他们慌忙退缩。
26 刀剑挡不住它,
长矛、标枪、尖戟也无能为力。
27 它视铁如干草,
视铜如朽木。
28 利箭吓不跑它,
弹石在它看来只是碎秸;
29 棍棒无异于秸秆,
它嗤笑投来的标枪。
30 它腹部有锋利的瓦片,
在淤泥上留下道道耙痕。
31 它使深渊如锅翻腾,
大海如油锅滚动。
32 它游过后留下一道波光,
使深渊仿佛披上银发。
33 地上没有动物能与它相比,
像它那样无所畏惧。
34 它藐视群雄,
在高傲的百兽中称王。”

'約 伯 記 41 ' not found for the version: Chinese New Testament: Easy-to-Read Version.

The Lord Continues: Can You Conquer Leviathan, Job?

41 [a]“Can you pull Leviathan out ⌞of the water⌟ with a fishhook
or tie its tongue down with a rope?
Can you put a ring through its nose
or pierce its jaw with a hook?
Will it plead with you for mercy
or speak tenderly to you?
Will it make an agreement with you
so that you can take it as your permanent slave?
Can you play with it like a bird
or keep it on a leash for your girls?
Will traders bargain over it
and divide it among the merchants?
Can you fill its hide with harpoons
or its head with fishing spears?
Lay your hand on it.
Think of the struggle!
Don’t do it again!
Certainly, any hope ⌞of defeating it⌟ is a false hope.
Doesn’t the sight of it overwhelm you?
10 No one is brave enough to provoke Leviathan.
Then who can stand in front of me? [b]
11 Who can confront me that I should repay him?
Everything under heaven belongs to me!

12 “I will not be silent about Leviathan’s limbs,
its strength, or its graceful form.
13 Who can skin its hide?
Who can approach it with a harness?
14 Who can open its closed mouth?
Its teeth are surrounded by terror.
15 Its back has rows of scales that are tightly sealed.
16 One is so close to the other
that there is no space between them.
17 Each is joined to the other.
They are locked together and inseparable.
18 When Leviathan sneezes, it gives out a flash of light.
Its eyes are like the first rays of the dawn.
19 Flames shoot from its mouth.
Sparks of fire fly from it.
20 Smoke comes from its nostrils
like a boiling pot heated over brushwood.
21 Its breath sets coals on fire,
and a flame pours from its mouth.
22 Strength resides in its neck,
and power dances in front of it.
23 The folds of its flesh stick to each other.
They are solid and cannot be moved.
24 Its chest is solid like a rock,
solid like a millstone.

25 “The mighty are afraid when Leviathan rises.
Broken down, they draw back.
26 A sword may strike it but not pierce it.
Neither will a spear, lance, or dart.
27 It considers iron to be like straw
and bronze to be like rotten wood.
28 An arrow won’t make it run away.
Stones from a sling turn to dust against it.
29 It considers clubs to be like stubble,
and it laughs at a rattling javelin.
30 Its underside is like sharp pieces of broken pottery.
It stretches out like a threshing [c] sledge on the mud.
31 It makes the deep sea boil like a pot.
It stirs up the ocean like a boiling kettle.
32 It leaves a shining path behind it
so that the sea appears to have silvery hair.
33 Nothing on land can compare to it.
It was made fearless.
34 It looks down on all high things.
It is king of everyone who is arrogant.”

Footnotes

  1. 41:1 Job 41:1–34 in English Bibles is Job 40:25–41:26 in the Hebrew Bible.
  2. 41:10 Some Hebrew manuscripts; many Hebrew manuscripts “it.”
  3. 41:30 Threshing   is the process of beating stalks to separate them from the grain.