Job 41
The Message
I Run This Universe
41 1-11 “Or can you pull in the sea beast, Leviathan, with a fly rod
and stuff him in your creel?
Can you lasso him with a rope,
or snag him with an anchor?
Will he beg you over and over for mercy,
or flatter you with flowery speech?
Will he apply for a job with you
to run errands and serve you the rest of your life?
Will you play with him as if he were a pet goldfish?
Will you make him the mascot of the neighborhood children?
Will you put him on display in the market
and have shoppers haggle over the price?
Could you shoot him full of arrows like a pin cushion,
or drive harpoons into his huge head?
If you so much as lay a hand on him,
you won’t live to tell the story.
What hope would you have with such a creature?
Why, one look at him would do you in!
If you can’t hold your own against his glowering visage,
how, then, do you expect to stand up to me?
Who could confront me and get by with it?
I’m in charge of all this—I run this universe!
12-17 “But I’ve more to say about Leviathan, the sea beast,
his enormous bulk, his beautiful shape.
Who would even dream of piercing that tough skin
or putting those jaws into bit and bridle?
And who would dare knock at the door of his mouth
filled with row upon row of fierce teeth?
His pride is invincible;
nothing can make a dent in that pride.
Nothing can get through that proud skin—
impervious to weapons and weather,
The thickest and toughest of hides,
impenetrable!
18-34 “He snorts and the world lights up with fire,
he blinks and the dawn breaks.
Comets pour out of his mouth,
fireworks arc and branch.
Smoke erupts from his nostrils
like steam from a boiling pot.
He blows and fires blaze;
flames of fire stream from his mouth.
All muscle he is—sheer and seamless muscle.
To meet him is to dance with death.
Sinewy and lithe,
there’s not a soft spot in his entire body—
As tough inside as out,
rock-hard, invulnerable.
Even angels run for cover when he surfaces,
cowering before his tail-thrashing turbulence.
Javelins bounce harmlessly off his hide,
harpoons ricochet wildly.
Iron bars are so much straw to him,
bronze weapons beneath notice.
Arrows don’t even make him blink;
bullets make no more impression than raindrops.
A battle ax is nothing but a splinter of kindling;
he treats a brandished harpoon as a joke.
His belly is armor-plated, inexorable—
unstoppable as a barge.
He roils deep ocean the way you’d boil water,
he whips the sea like you’d whip an egg into batter.
With a luminous trail stretching out behind him,
you might think Ocean had grown a gray beard!
There’s nothing on this earth quite like him,
not an ounce of fear in that creature!
He surveys all the high and mighty—
king of the ocean, king of the deep!”
Job 41
Young's Literal Translation
41 Dost thou draw leviathan with an angle? And with a rope thou lettest down -- his tongue?
2 Dost thou put a reed in his nose? And with a thorn pierce his jaw?
3 Doth he multiply unto thee supplications? Doth he speak unto thee tender things?
4 Doth he make a covenant with thee? Dost thou take him for a servant age-during?
5 Dost thou play with him as a bird? And dost thou bind him for thy damsels?
6 (Feast upon him do companions, They divide him among the merchants!)
7 Dost thou fill with barbed irons his skin? And with fish-spears his head?
8 Place on him thy hand, Remember the battle -- do not add!
9 Lo, the hope of him is found a liar, Also at his appearance is not one cast down?
10 None so fierce that he doth awake him, And who [is] he before Me stationeth himself?
11 Who hath brought before Me and I repay? Under the whole heavens it [is] mine.
12 I do not keep silent concerning his parts, And the matter of might, And the grace of his arrangement.
13 Who hath uncovered the face of his clothing? Within his double bridle who doth enter?
14 The doors of his face who hath opened? Round about his teeth [are] terrible.
15 A pride -- strong ones of shields, Shut up -- a close seal.
16 One unto another they draw nigh, And air doth not enter between them.
17 One unto another they adhere, They stick together and are not separated.
18 His sneezings cause light to shine, And his eyes [are] as the eyelids of the dawn.
19 Out of his mouth do flames go, sparks of fire escape.
20 Out of his nostrils goeth forth smoke, As a blown pot and reeds.
21 His breath setteth coals on fire, And a flame from his mouth goeth forth.
22 In his neck lodge doth strength, And before him doth grief exult.
23 The flakes of his flesh have adhered -- Firm upon him -- it is not moved.
24 His heart [is] firm as a stone, Yea, firm as the lower piece.
25 From his rising are the mighty afraid, From breakings they keep themselves free.
26 The sword of his overtaker standeth not, Spear -- dart -- and lance.
27 He reckoneth iron as straw, brass as rotten wood.
28 The son of the bow doth not cause him to flee, Turned by him into stubble are stones of the sling.
29 As stubble have darts been reckoned, And he laugheth at the shaking of a javelin.
30 Under him [are] sharp points of clay, He spreadeth gold on the mire.
31 He causeth to boil as a pot the deep, The sea he maketh as a pot of ointment.
32 After him he causeth a path to shine, One thinketh the deep to be hoary.
33 There is not on the earth his like, That is made without terror.
34 Every high thing he doth see, He [is] king over all sons of pride.
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson