Job 41:1-34
-
God describes the amazing Leviathan (1-34)
41 “Can you catch Le·viʹa·than*+ with a fishhookOr hold down its tongue with a rope?
2 Can you put a rope* through its nostrilsOr pierce its jaws with a hook?*
3 Will it make many pleas to you,Or will it speak gently to you?
4 Will it make a covenant with you,So that you may make it your slave for life?
5 Will you play with it as with a birdOr tie it on a leash for your little girls?
6 Will traders barter for it?
Will they divide it up among merchants?
7 Will you fill its hide with harpoons+Or its head with fishing spears?
8 Lay your hand on it;You will remember the battle and never do it again!
9 Any hope of subduing it is futile.
The mere sight of it would overwhelm you.*
10 No one dares to stir it up.
So who is it who can stand up to me?+
11 Who has given me anything first that I should repay him?+
Whatever is under the heavens is mine.+
12 I will not be silent about its limbs,About its mightiness and its well-formed body.
13 Who has removed its outer covering?
Who will enter its open jaws?
14 Who can pry open the doors of its mouth?*
Its teeth all around are fearsome.
15 Its back has rows of scales*Tightly sealed together.
16 Each one fits so closely to the otherThat no air can come between them.
17 They are stuck to one another;They cling together and cannot be separated.
18 Its snorting flashes out light,And its eyes are like the rays of dawn.
19 Flashes of lightning go out of its mouth;Fiery sparks escape.
20 Smoke pours out of its nostrils,Like a furnace fueled with rushes.
21 Its breath sets coals ablaze,And a flame shoots from its mouth.
22 There is great strength in its neck,And dismay runs before it.
23 The folds of its flesh are tightly joined together;They are firm, as though cast upon it and immovable.
24 Its heart is hard as stone,Yes, hard as a lower millstone.
25 When it rises up, even the mighty are frightened;Its thrashing causes bewilderment.
26 No sword that reaches it will prevail;Nor will spear, dart, or arrowhead.+
27 It regards iron as straw,Copper as rotten wood.
28 An arrow does not make it flee;Slingstones turn into stubble against it.
29 It regards a club as stubble,And it laughs at the rattling of a javelin.
30 Underneath, it is like sharp fragments of pottery;It spreads itself in the mud like a threshing sledge.+
31 It makes the deep boil just like a pot;It stirs up the sea like an ointment pot.
32 It leaves a glistening wake in its path.
One would think that the deep had white hair.
33 There is nothing like it on the earth,A creature made to have no fear.
34 It glares at everything that is haughty.
It is king over all the majestic wild beasts.”
Footnotes
^ Possibly the crocodile.
^ Lit., “a rush.”
^ Lit., “thorn.”
^ Or “hurl you down.”
^ Lit., “face.”
^ Or possibly, “Its pride is its rows of scales.”
