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41 [a]“Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook
    or press down its tongue with a cord?(A)
Can you put a rope in its nose
    or pierce its jaw with a hook?(B)
Will it make many supplications to you?
    Will it speak soft words to you?
Will it make a covenant with you
    to be taken as your servant forever?
Will you play with it as with a bird
    or put it on a leash for your young women?
Will traders bargain over it?
    Will they divide it up among the merchants?
Can you fill its skin with harpoons
    or its head with fishing spears?
Lay hands on it;
    think of the battle; you will not do it again!
[b]Any hope of capturing it[c] will be disappointed;
    one is overwhelmed even at the sight of it.
10 No one is so fierce as to dare to stir it up.
    Who can stand before it?[d](C)
11 Who can confront it[e] and be safe?[f]
    —under the whole heaven, who?[g](D)

12 “I will not keep silent concerning its limbs
    or its mighty strength or its splendid frame.
13 Who can strip off its outer garment?
    Who can penetrate its double coat of mail?[h]
14 Who can open the doors of its face?
    There is terror all around its teeth.
15 Its back[i] is made of shields in rows,
    shut up closely as with a seal.
16 One is so near to another
    that no air can come between them.
17 They are joined one to another;
    they clasp each other and cannot be separated.
18 Its sneezes flash forth light,
    and its eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.(E)
19 From its mouth go flaming torches;
    sparks of fire leap out.
20 Out of its nostrils comes smoke,
    as from a boiling pot and burning rushes.
21 Its breath kindles coals,
    and a flame comes out of its mouth.
22 In its neck abides strength,
    and terror dances before it.
23 The folds of its flesh cling together;
    it is firmly cast and immovable.
24 Its heart is as hard as stone,
    as hard as the lower millstone.
25 When it raises itself up the gods are afraid;
    at the crashing they are beside themselves.
26 Though the sword reaches it, it does not avail,
    nor does the spear, the dart, or the javelin.
27 It counts iron as straw
    and bronze as rotten wood.
28 The arrow cannot make it flee;
    slingstones, for it, are turned to chaff.
29 Clubs are counted as chaff;
    it laughs at the rattle of javelins.
30 Its underparts are like sharp potsherds;
    it spreads itself like a threshing sledge on the mire.
31 It makes the deep boil like a pot;
    it makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
32 It leaves a shining wake behind it;
    one would think the deep to be white-haired.
33 On earth it has no equal,
    a creature without fear.(F)
34 It surveys everything that is lofty;
    it is king over all that are proud.”

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Footnotes

  1. 41.1 40.25 in Heb
  2. 41.9 41.1 in Heb
  3. 41.9 Heb of it
  4. 41.10 Heb me
  5. 41.11 Heb me
  6. 41.11 Gk: Heb that I shall repay
  7. 41.11 Heb to me
  8. 41.13 Gk: Heb bridle
  9. 41.15 Cn Compare Gk Vg: Heb pride

On Leviathan

41 [a]“Can you draw Leviathan[b] out of the water[c] with a hook,
    or tie down[d] his tongue with a rope?
Can you attach a bridle[e] to his snout,
    or pierce his jaw with a hook?
Will he make many supplications to you,
    or will he beg you for mercy?[f]
Will he try to make a deal with you,
    so that you may take him in servitude forever?

“Will you play with him like a pet bird?
    Will you put a leash on him for your little girls?
Will your business be able to buy him,
    Will you divide him among your merchant friends?
Will you fill his flesh with harpoons,
    or his head with lances?
Lay your hand on him,
    and you’ll remember the struggle.
        You’ll never do that again!

“Look! Anyone’s hope to capture him[g] will prove itself false;
    anyone would be terrified[h] just by looking at him.
10 No one is fierce enough to dare to arouse him.
“Who, then, can stand in my presence and face me?
11 Who can take me to court and be reconciled to me?
        All of heaven is mine.

12 “I won’t be silent concerning his limbs,
    his mighty strength, and orderly frame.
13 Who can strip off his outer armor?[i]
    Who can approach him with a bridle?
14 Who dares to open his mouth,[j]
    since it is ringed with his terrible teeth!

15 His protective scales are his pride,
    they lie sealed tightly together.
16 Each one is so close to the other
    that not even air comes in between them.
17 Each is attached to the other,[k]
    grasping each other so they cannot be separated.

18 “His snorting releases flashes of light;
    his eyes are like the rays[l] of the dawn.
19 Flames blaze from his mouth;
    streams of sparking fire fly out.
20 Smoke billows from his nostrils;
    like a boiling pot or burning reeds.
21 His breath can ignite coal;
    and flames proceed from his mouth.

22 “His neck is so powerful
    that all who meet him are terrified.
23 There is no flaw in his body’s armor;
    it is firmly fixed on him and unbreachable.
24 His heart is as strong as stone,
    it is as hard as a lower millstone.
25 When he rears up, the mighty are terrified;
    they are bewildered as he thrashes about.

26 “Thrusting at him with a sword won’t be effective,
    nor will spears, darts, or javelins.
27 He regards iron like straw,
    and hardened bronze like a dead tree.
28 Arrows won’t make him flee;
    stones from a sling are only pebbles to him.
29 Clubs are like twigs;[m]
    he laughs at the whoosh of the javelin.

30 “Beneath him he is armored as with sharp potsherds;
    he tears through muddy ground
        like a threshing sledge through grain.[n]
31 He causes the deep to boil like water in[o] a pot,
    and churns the sea like one stirs ointment.
32 The sea is luminescent behind him;
    his wake turns the sea white, like those with gray hair.

33 “There’s nothing like him on earth;
    he was created without the ability to fear.
34 He looks down on everything that is high;
    he rules over every kind[p] of pride.”

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Footnotes

  1. Job 41:1 This v. is 40:25 in MT, v2 is 40:26 in MT, and so through v8.
  2. Job 41:1 I.e. an ancient, gigantic sea creature, living in Job’s time but now apparently extinct
  3. Job 41:1 The Heb. lacks of the water
  4. Job 41:1 Lit. or sink
  5. Job 41:2 Lit. rope
  6. Job 41:3 Lit. you with gentle words
  7. Job 41:9 The Heb. lacks to capture him
  8. Job 41:9 Or subdued
  9. Job 41:13 Lit. clothing
  10. Job 41:14 Lit. door of his face
  11. Job 41:17 Lit. with his brother
  12. Job 41:18 Lit. eyelids
  13. Job 41:29 Lit. stubble
  14. Job 41:30 The Heb. lacks through grain
  15. Job 41:31 The Heb. lacks water in
  16. Job 41:34 Lit. son