Job 41
Evangelical Heritage Version
Leviathan
2 Can you put a reed in his nose
or pierce his jaw with a hook?
3 Will he keep asking for your favor
or speak tender words to you?
4 Will he sign a contract with you
so that you keep him as your servant forever?
5 Can you play with him like a bird?
Can you put him on a leash for your girls?
6 Do the merchants barter for Leviathan’s meat?
Do they divide it up with the other tradesmen?
7 Can you fill his hide with harpoons
and his head with fishing spears?
8 If you lay your hand on him,
you will never forget the battle and won’t do it again.
9 Listen! Any hope you have of overcoming him is unfounded.
Wouldn’t you be knocked down by the mere sight of him?
10 No one is fierce enough to risk stirring him up.[c]
Who then can stand before me?
11 Who can confront me and demand that I repay him?
Everything under the whole sky belongs to me.
12 I will tell about the parts of his body.
I will describe his power and his beautiful design.
13 Who can strip off his outer covering?
Who can touch his double layer of armor?
14 Who dares to open the doors to his mouth,
which is surrounded with terrifying teeth?
15 His back[d] is like rows of shields,
which are tightly joined together.
16 They are so close together not even a breath of air
can pass between them.
17 They are fastened to each other,
so they stick together and cannot be separated.
18 His snorts are flashes of light.
His eyes are like the eyelids of dawn.
19 Blazing torches come out of his mouth.
Sparks of fire shoot out.
20 Smoke pours out from his nostrils
like a pot boiling over a reed fire.
21 His breath sets coals on fire,
and flames come out of his mouth.
22 Strength dwells in his neck.
Despair dances ahead of him.
23 The folds of his flesh are compact,
solid and immovable.
24 His heart is as hard as rock,
as hard as a lower millstone.
25 When he rises up, the mighty are afraid.
When he thrashes around, they retreat.
26 If someone strikes him with a sword, it has no effect.
Neither do spears, arrows, or javelins.
27 To him iron is like straw;
bronze is like rotten wood.
28 Arrows do not make him flee.
To him sling stones are like chaff;
29 clubs are like stubble.
He laughs at the shaking of a javelin.
30 His underbelly is like sharp pieces of broken pottery.
It leaves marks in the mud like a threshing sledge.
31 He makes the depths boil like a cooking pot.
He makes the sea like a cauldron of ointment.
32 He leaves a shiny wake behind him.
The deep looks like a white-haired man.
33 There is nothing at all like him on earth,
a creature without fear.
34 He looks down on everything that is lofty.
He is king over every proud creature!
Notas al pie
- Job 41:1 Or the Dragon. This is a poetic description that does not exactly match any animal, though the crocodile is the closest match. Another suggestion that has been made is some form of dinosaur. Dragon (Greek: drakon) is the translation of the Greek Old Testament. The term has satanic overtones. See Revelation 12.
- Job 41:1 English 41:1-8 is equivalent to Hebrew 40:25-32. English 41:9 is Hebrew 41:1.
- Job 41:10 Or He is fierce. No one stirs him up.
- Job 41:15 The translation follows the ancient versions. The Hebrew reading is his 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]
Notas al pie
- 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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