Job 41:1-42:6

English Standard Version

41 ^[a] “Can you draw out ^(A)Leviathan^[b] with a fishhook
    or press down his tongue with a cord?
² Can you put ^(B)a rope in his nose
    or pierce his jaw with ^(C)a hook?
³ Will he make many pleas to you?
    Will he speak to you soft words?
⁴ Will he make a covenant with you
    to take him for ^(D)your servant forever?
⁵ Will you play with him as with a bird,
    or will you put him on a leash for your girls?
⁶ Will traders bargain over him?
    Will they divide him up among the merchants?
⁷ Can you fill his skin with harpoons
    or his head with fishing spears?
⁸ Lay your hands on him;
    remember the battle—you will not do it again!
^9 [c] Behold, the hope of a man is false;
    he is laid low even at the sight of him.
¹⁰ No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up.
    Who then is he who can stand before me?
^11 (E)Who has first given to me, that I should repay him?
    ^(F)Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.

¹² “I will not keep silence concerning his limbs,
    or his mighty strength, or his goodly frame.
¹³ Who can strip off his outer garment?
    Who would come near him with a bridle?
¹⁴ Who can open the doors of his face?
    Around his teeth is terror.
¹⁵ His back is made of^[d] rows of shields,
    shut up closely as with a seal.
¹⁶ One is so near to another
    that no air can come between them.
¹⁷ They are ^(G)joined one to another;
    they clasp each other and cannot be separated.
¹⁸ His sneezings flash forth light,
    and his eyes are like ^(H)the eyelids of the dawn.
¹⁹ Out of his mouth go flaming torches;
    sparks of fire leap forth.
²⁰ Out of his nostrils comes forth smoke,
    as from a boiling pot and burning rushes.
²¹ His breath ^(I)kindles coals,
    and a flame comes forth from his mouth.
²² In his neck abides strength,
    and terror dances before him.
²³ The folds of his flesh ^(J)stick together,
    firmly cast on him and immovable.
²⁴ His heart is hard as a stone,
    hard as the lower millstone.
²⁵ When he raises himself up, the mighty^[e] are afraid;
    at the crashing they are beside themselves.
²⁶ Though the sword reaches him, it does not avail,
    nor the spear, the dart, or the javelin.
²⁷ He counts iron as straw,
    and bronze as rotten wood.
²⁸ The arrow cannot make him flee;
    for him, sling stones are turned to stubble.
²⁹ Clubs are counted as stubble;
    he laughs at the rattle of javelins.
³⁰ His underparts are like sharp ^(K)potsherds;
    he spreads himself like ^(L)a threshing sledge on the mire.
³¹ He makes the deep boil like a pot;
    he makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
³² Behind him he leaves a shining wake;
    one would think the deep to be white-haired.
^33 (M)On earth there is not his like,
    a creature without fear.
³⁴ He sees everything that is high;
    he is king over all the ^(N)sons of pride.”

² “I know that you can ^(O)do all things,
    and that no purpose of yours can be thwarted.
^3 (P)‘Who is this that hides counsel without knowledge?’
Therefore I have uttered what I did not understand,
    things ^(Q)too wonderful for me, which I did not know.
⁴ ‘Hear, and I will speak;
    ^(R)I will question you, and you make it known to me.’
⁵ I had heard of you by the hearing of the ear,
    but now my eye sees you;
⁶ therefore I despise myself,
    and repent^[f] in ^(S)dust and ashes.”