Job 41
Christian Standard Bible
41 Can you pull in Leviathan(A) with a hook(B)
or tie his tongue down with a rope?
2 Can you put a cord[a] through his nose
or pierce his jaw with a hook?(C)
3 Will he beg you for mercy
or speak softly to you?
4 Will he make a covenant with you
so that you can take him as a slave forever?(D)
5 Can you play with him like a bird
or put him on a leash[b] for your girls?
6 Will traders bargain for him
or divide him among the merchants?
7 Can you fill his hide with harpoons
or his head with fishing spears?
8 Lay a[c] hand on him.
You will remember the battle
and never repeat it!
9 Any hope of capturing him proves false.
Does a person not collapse at the very sight of him?
10 No one is ferocious enough to rouse Leviathan;(E)
who then can stand against me?
11 Who confronted me, that I should repay him?
Everything under heaven belongs to me.(F)
12 I cannot be silent about his limbs,
his power, and his graceful proportions.
13 Who can strip off his outer covering?
Who can penetrate his double layer of armor?[d](G)
14 Who can open his jaws,[e]
surrounded by those terrifying teeth?
15 His pride is in his rows of scales,
closely sealed together.
16 One scale is so close to another[f]
that no air can pass between them.
17 They are joined to one another,
so closely connected[g] they cannot be separated.
18 His snorting[h] flashes with light,
while his eyes are like the rays[i] of dawn.
19 Flaming torches shoot from his mouth;
fiery sparks fly out!
20 Smoke billows from his nostrils(H)
as from a boiling pot or burning reeds.
21 His breath sets coals ablaze,
and flames pour out of his mouth.
22 Strength resides in his neck,
and dismay dances before him.
23 The folds of his flesh are joined together,
solid as metal[j] and immovable.
24 His heart is as hard as a rock,
as hard as a lower millstone!
25 When Leviathan rises, the mighty[k] are terrified;
they withdraw because of his thrashing.
26 The sword that reaches him will have no effect,
nor will a spear, dart, or arrow.
27 He regards iron as straw,
and bronze as rotten wood.
28 No arrow can make him flee;
slingstones become like stubble to him.
29 A club is regarded as stubble,
and he laughs(I) at the sound of a javelin.
30 His undersides are jagged potsherds,
spreading the mud like a threshing sledge.(J)
31 He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron;
he makes the sea like an ointment jar.
32 He leaves a shining wake behind him;[l]
one would think the deep had gray hair!
33 He has no equal on earth—
a creature devoid of fear!
34 He surveys everything that is haughty;
he is king over all the proud beasts.[m]
Footnotes
- 41:2 Lit reed
- 41:5 Lit or bind him
- 41:8 Lit your
- 41:13 LXX; MT reads double bridle
- 41:14 Lit open the doors of his face
- 41:16 Lit One by one they approach
- 41:17 Lit another; they cling together and
- 41:18 Or sneezing
- 41:18 Lit eyelids
- 41:23 Lit together, hard on him
- 41:25 Or the divine beings
- 41:32 Lit a path
- 41:34 Lit the children of pride
Job 41
Lexham English Bible
41 [a] “Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook?
Or[b] can you tie down its mouth with a cord?[c]
2 Can you put a rope in its nose?
Or[d] can you pierce its jawbone with a hook?
3 Will it make numerous pleas for mercy to you?
Or will it speak gentle words to you?
4 Will it make a covenant with you?
Will you take it as a slave forever?
5 Will you play with it as with birds
and put it on a leash for your girls?
6 Will guildsmen bargain over it?
Will they divide it between tradesmen?
7 Can you fill its kin with harpoons
or[e] its head with fish spears?
8 Lay your hands on it;
think about the battle—you will not do it again!
9 “Look, the hope of capturing it[f] is false.
Will one be hurled down even at its sight?
10 Is it not fierce when somebody stirs it?
Who then is he who would stand before it?[g]
11 Who has come to confront me, that[h] I should repay him?
Under all the heavens, it belongs to me.[i]
12 “I will not keep quiet concerning its limbs
or[j] concerning the extent of its might and the gracefulness of its frame.
13 Who can strip off its outer covering?[k]
Who can penetrate its double harness?
14 Who can open the doors of its face?
Its teeth all around are fearsome.
15 Its back[l] has scales of shields;
it is shut up closely as with a seal.
16 They are close to one another—[m]
even[n] the air cannot come between them.
17 They are joined one to another;[o]
they cling together and cannot be separated.
18 “Its snorting flashes forth light,
and its eyes are red like dawn.[p]
19 Torches go from its mouth;
sparks of fire shoot out.
20 Smoke comes from its nostrils
as from a kettle boiling and burning bulrushes.
21 Its breath kindles charcoal,
and a flame comes from its mouth.
22 “Strength abides in its neck,
and dismay[q] dances before it.[r]
23 Its flesh’s folds of skin cling together;
it is cast on it—it will not be moved.
24 Its heart is cast as stone;
yes,[s] it is cast as the lower millstone.
25 When it raises itself,[t] the mighty ones are terrified;
they retreat because of its thrashing.
26 Reaching it with the sword does not avail,
nor with the spear, the dart, or[u] the javelin.
27 It regards iron as straw,
bronze as rotten wood.
28 An arrow[v] will not make it flee;
sling stones are turned to stubble for it.
29 Clubs are regarded as stubble,
and it laughs at the short sword’s rattle.
30 “Its underparts are shards of a potsherd;
it moves over mud like a threshing sledge.
31 It makes the deep boil like a cooking pot;
it makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
32 Behind it, it leaves a glistening wake;[w]
one would think that the deep has gray hair.
33 “On the ground it has no equal[x]—
a[y] creature without fear.
34 It observes all the lofty;
it is king over all that are proud.”[z]
Footnotes
- Job 41:1 Job 41:1–34 in the English Bible is 40:25–41:26 in the Hebrew Bible
- Job 41:1 Hebrew “And”
- Job 41:1 Literally “with a cord can you press down its tongue”
- Job 41:2 Hebrew “And”
- Job 41:7 Hebrew “and”
- Job 41:9 Literally “its hope”
- Job 41:10 Or “Who is he thenwho could stand before me?”; literally “to the face of me”
- Job 41:11 Hebrew “and”
- Job 41:11 Literally “to me”
- Job 41:12 Hebrew “and”
- Job 41:13 Literally “the surface of its garment”
- Job 41:15 LXX; or “pride”
- Job 41:16 Literally “one to one”
- Job 41:16 Hebrew “and”
- Job 41:17 Literally “a man to his brother”
- Job 41:18 Literally “like eyelids of dawn”
- Job 41:22 Or “strength”
- Job 41:22 Literally “to the face of him/it”
- Job 41:24 Hebrew “and”
- Job 41:25 Literally “From his/its rising up”
- Job 41:26 Hebrew “and”
- Job 41:28 Literally “A son of a bow”
- Job 41:32 Literally “it lights up the path”
- Job 41:33 Literally “There is not on the ground its likeness”
- Job 41:33 Hebrew “the”
- Job 41:34 Literally “over all sons of pride”
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