Job 41

1 ^{▼▼Job 41:1–34 in the English Bible is 40:25–41:26 in the Hebrew Bible} “Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook?
Or ^{▼▼Hebrew “And”} ⌞can you tie down its mouth with a cord⌟? ^{▼▼Literally “with a cord can you press down its tongue”}
2 Can you put a rope in its nose?
Or ^{▼▼Hebrew “And”} 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 ^{▼▼Hebrew “and”} 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⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “its hope”} 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⌟? ^{▼▼Or “Who is he thenwho could stand before me?”; literally “to the face of me”}
11 Who has come to confront me, that ^{▼▼Hebrew “and”} I should repay him?
Under all the heavens, ⌞it belongs to me⌟. ^{▼▼Literally “to me”}
12 “I will not keep quiet concerning its limbs
or ^{▼▼Hebrew “and”} concerning the extent of its might and the gracefulness of its frame.
13 Who can strip off ⌞its outer covering⌟? ^{▼▼Literally “the surface of its garment”}
Who can penetrate its double harness?
14 Who can open the doors of its face?
Its teeth all around are fearsome.
15 Its back ^{▼▼LXX; or “pride”} has scales of shields;
it is shut up closely as with a seal.
16 They are close ⌞to one another⌟— ^{▼▼Literally “one to one”}
even ^{▼▼Hebrew “and”} the air cannot come between them.
17 They are joined ⌞one to another⌟; ^{▼▼Literally “a man to his brother”}
they cling together and cannot be separated.
18 “Its snorting flashes forth light,
and its eyes are ⌞red like dawn⌟. ^{▼▼Literally “like eyelids of dawn”}
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 ^{▼▼Or “strength”} dances ⌞before it⌟. ^{▼▼Literally “to the face of him/it”}
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, ^{▼▼Hebrew “and”} it is cast as the lower millstone.
25 ⌞When it raises itself⌟, ^{▼▼Literally “From his/its rising up”} 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 ^{▼▼Hebrew “and”} the javelin.
27 It regards iron as straw,
bronze as rotten wood.
28 ⌞An arrow⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “A son of a bow”} 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⌟; ^{▼▼Literally “it lights up the path”}
one would think that the deep has gray hair.
33 “⌞On the ground it has no equal⌟ ^{▼▼Literally “There is not on the ground its likeness”}—
a ^{▼▼Hebrew “the”} creature without fear.
34 It observes all the lofty;
it is king ⌞over all that are proud⌟.” ^{▼▼Literally “over all sons of pride”}