Old/New Testament
41 Eternal One: Now let us not stop here.
What of Leviathan?
Can you haul it in on the end of a hook
or strap down its tongue with your line?
In modern times, a leviathan is understood as something large and formidable. It may apply to an abstract entity, such as a totalitarian state, or to an actual monster, such as Captain Nemo’s giant squid. That modern idea is based on an ancient creation myth. Psalm 74 alludes to God’s conquest of Leviathan, a seven-headed monster that breathed fire, before His creation of the world. Leviathan was the master of chaos, living somewhere in the deep along with Rahab, another sea monster. The story goes that God chopped off six of Leviathan’s heads and imprisoned it in the deepest parts of the ocean, where it remains today. Leviathan creeps up occasionally in the Bible as a terrifying adversary, most notably in Revelation where it is described as a dragon or beast that comes up out of the sea and is specifically identified as Satan (Revelation 12:9; 13:1-3). So Leviathan will get another chance to fight God, but once again it will fall to the One who brought divine order to chaos.
2 Will you subdue it with a fragile reed through its nose
or pierce its jaw with a hook?
3 Do you imagine it will beg you endlessly for mercy
or lower its voice to a whisper when speaking to you?
4 Will it strike a deal with you
and enter into your service as a lifelong slave?
5 Will you play with it as you would a pet bird
or put it on a leash for your girls?
6 Will traders haggle over its price
and others seek to divide it up among the merchants?
7 Can you fill its hide with harpoons
or its head with fishing spears?
8 If you are able to lay a hand on it,
You will remember the struggle all of your days,
and you will never do it again.
9 Now look, any expectation you could subdue it will be shattered.
Just the sight of it is enough to overpower you.
10 No one is fierce enough to dare disturb it.
So is there anyone in all the earth who dares to stand up to Me?
11 Who could ever confront Me and force Me to repay him?
Everything and everyone under heaven is Mine![a]
12 I will not be silent regarding Leviathan’s powerful limbs,
its enormous strength, or its beautiful form.
13 Who can reveal what is under its outer armor covering
or penetrate down through its double coat of mail?
14 Who can pry open its enormous jaws?
Remember: its teeth are a terror from every angle.
15 Its back is covered with rows of shields
that overlap and shut with a tight seal—
16 One against another,
so close that no wind passes between them.
17 They are joined to one another,
inseparably locked.
18 When it sneezes, light flashes from its nostrils;
its eyes are like the rays of the morning sun.
19 Fire streams from its mouth
as fiery sparks fly outward.
20 Smoke pours from its nostrils
as from a boiling pot or a brush fire.
21 Its searing breath sets coals ablaze;
its flaming tongue darts from its mouth.
22 Leviathan’s neck bristles with raw power;
terror dances before him.
23 The creases in its flesh fuse together:
firm, fixed, immovable.
24 Its heart is rock hard,
as hard as a lower millstone, impervious to grinding.
25 When the beast rises up and moves near, the mighty ones shudder in fear;
when it crashes down, they retreat.
26 The sword that reaches it may strike but to no effect,
so, too, the spear, the dart, and the lance.
27 For it treats iron as straw
and bronze as rotten wood.
28 The arrow cannot force its retreat,
and the stone from the sling shatters on impact.
29 A club is no more dangerous to it than a piece of straw;
it taunts and laughs at the rattling lance.
30 Its underbelly is as sharp as broken pottery shards;
it easily dredges a channel in the mud behind it.
31 It brings the deep to a rolling boil like a pot over a hot fire;
in its course it stirs the sea like a pot of ointment.
32 Behind it, the wake is bright and shining,
as if the sea has long white hair.
33 Nothing on earth is its equal,
this creature fashioned without fear.
34 It looks upon all the high and mighty—
this king over the children of pride.
42 Job answered the Eternal One.
2 Job: I know You can do everything;
nothing You do can be foiled or frustrated.
3 You asked,
“Who is this that conceals counsel with empty words void of knowledge?”[b]
And now I see that I spoke of—but did not comprehend—
great wonders that are beyond me. I didn’t know.
4 You said, “Hear Me now, and I will speak.
I’ll be asking the questions, and you will supply the answers.”[c]
5 Before I knew only what I had heard of You,
but now I have seen You.
6 Therefore I realize the truth:
I disavow and mourn all I have said
and repent in dust and ash.
7 After the Eternal had spoken these words to Job, He turned and spoke to Eliphaz from Teman.
Eternal One: My anger is burning against you and your two friends because you have not spoken rightly of Me, as My servant Job has. 8 So now, gather your friends and bring seven bulls and seven rams. Then go to My servant Job, make a burnt offering for yourselves, and he will pray for you. I will accept his prayer. Despite the fact that you have not spoken rightly of Me, as My servant Job did, I will not deal with you according to your foolish ways.
9 So Eliphaz from Teman, Bildad from Shuhah, and Zophar from Naamath went and did as the Eternal commanded, and He accepted Job’s prayer for them.
10 The Eternal restored the fortunes of Job after he prayed for his friends; He even doubled the wealth he had before. 11 All of his brothers and sisters, along with those he had known earlier, came and shared meals with him at his house. They sympathized with him and consoled him regarding the great distress the Eternal had brought on him. Each guest gave him a sum of money and each, a golden ring. 12 The Eternal One blessed the last part of Job’s life even more than the first part. He went on to possess 14,000 sheep, 6,000 camels, 1,000 teams of oxen, and 1,000 female donkeys. 13 He also fathered 7 more sons and 3 more daughters. 14 He named his first daughter Jemimah, his second Keziah, and his third Keren-happuch. 15 Nowhere in all the land could one find women as captivatingly beautiful as Job’s daughters, or as independently wealthy: their father gave them each a share of the family inheritance along with their brothers. 16 After all this, Job lived 140 years. He lived to see his children and their children and so on, to the fourth generation. 17 Then Job died, old, and satisfied with his days.
22 The crowd joined in with insults and insinuations, prompting the city officials to strip them naked in the public square so they could be beaten with rods. 23 They were flogged mercilessly and then were thrown into a prison cell. The jailer was ordered to keep them under the strictest supervision. 24 The jailer complied, first restraining them in ankle chains, then locking them in the most secure cell in the center of the jail.
25 Picture this: It’s midnight. In the darkness of their cell, Paul and Silas—after surviving the severe beating—aren’t moaning and groaning; they’re praying and singing hymns to God. The prisoners in adjoining cells are wide awake, listening to them pray and sing. 26 Suddenly the ground begins to shake, and the prison foundations begin to crack. You can hear the sound of jangling chains and the squeak of cell doors opening. Every prisoner realizes that his chains have come unfastened. 27 The jailer wakes up and runs into the jail. His heart sinks as he sees the doors have all swung open. He is sure his prisoners have escaped, and he knows this will mean death for him, so he pulls out his sword to commit suicide. 28 At that moment, Paul sees what is happening and shouts out at the top of his lungs,
Paul: Wait, man! Don’t harm yourself! We’re all here! None of us has escaped.
29 The jailer sends his assistants to get some torches and rushes into the cell of Paul and Silas. He falls on his knees before them, trembling. 30 Then he brings them outside.
Jailer: Gentlemen, please tell me, what must I do to be liberated?
Paul and Silas: 31 Just believe—believe in the ultimate King, Jesus, and not only will you be rescued, but your whole household will as well.
32-34 The jailer brings them to his home, and they have a long conversation with the man and his family. Paul and Silas explain the message of Jesus to them all. The man washes their wounds and feeds them, then they baptize[a] the man and his family. The night ends with Paul and Silas in the jailer’s home, sharing a meal together, the whole family rejoicing that they have come to faith in God.
35 At dawn the city officials send the police to the jailer’s home with a command: “Let those men go free.”
Jailer: 36 The city officials have ordered me to release you, so you may go now in peace.
Paul (loud enough that the police can hear): 37 Just a minute. This is unjust. We’ve been stripped naked, beaten in public, and thrown into jail, all without a trial of any kind. Now they want to release us secretly as if nothing happened? No way: we’re Roman citizens—we shouldn’t be treated like this! If the city officials want to release us, then they can come and tell us to our faces.
38 The police report back to the city officials; and when they come to the part about Paul and Silas being Roman citizens, the officials turn pale with fear. 39 They rush to the jail in person and apologize. They personally escort Paul and Silas from their cell and politely ask them to leave the city. 40 Paul and Silas oblige—after stopping at Lydia’s home to gather with the brothers and sisters there and give them parting words of encouragement.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.