Job 41

Can You Draw Out Leviathan?

1 “ ^{▼▼Ch 40:25 in Heb}Can you draw out ^{▼▼Possibly the crocodile}Leviathan with a fishhook?
Or press down its tongue with a cord?
2 “Can you put a ^{▼▼Lit rope of rushes}rope in its nose
Or pierce its jaw with a ^{▼▼Or thorn, ring}hook?
3 “Will it make many supplications to you,
Or will he speak to you soft words?
4 “Will it cut a covenant with you?
Will you take it for a slave forever?
5 “Will you play with it as with a bird,
Or will you bind it for your young women?
6 “Will the ^{▼▼Lit partners}traders bargain over it?
Will they divide it among the merchants?
7 “Can you fill its skin with harpoons,
Or its head with fishing spears?
8 “Place your hand on it;
Remember the battle; ^{▼▼Lit do not add}you will not do that again!
9 “ ^{▼▼Ch 41:1 in Heb}Behold, ^{▼▼Job’s}his expectation is a lie;
Will ^▼▼Jobhe be laid low even at the sight of it?
10 “No one is so fierce that he dares to arouse it;
Who then is he that can stand before Me?
11 “Who has ^{▼▼Lit anticipated}given to Me that I should repay him?
Whatever is under the whole heaven is Mine.
12 “I will not keep silence concerning its limbs,
Or its mighty strength or its graceful frame.
13 “Who can ^{▼▼Lit uncover the face of its garment}strip off its ^{▼▼Lit clothing}outer armor?
Who can come with its doubled ^{▼▼Gr mail}bridle?
14 “Who can open the doors of its face?
Around its teeth there is dreadful terror.
15 “Its ^{▼▼Lit rows of shields}strong scales are its pride,
Shut up as with a tight seal.
16 “One is so near to another
That no air can come between them.
17 “They cling one to another;
They are interlocked and cannot be separated.
18 “Its sneezes flash forth light,
And its eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
19 “Out of its mouth go burning torches;
Sparks of fire ^{▼▼Lit escape}leap forth.
20 “Out of its nostrils smoke goes forth
As from a boiling pot and burning reeds.
21 “Its breath kindles coals,
And a flame goes forth from its mouth.
22 “In its neck lodges strength,
And dismay leaps before it.
23 “The folds of its flesh cling together,
Hardened upon it and is not shaken.
24 “Its heart is as hard as a stone,
Even as hard as a lower millstone.
25 “When it raises itself up, the ^{▼▼Or gods}mighty fear,
Because of the crashing they are ^{▼▼Lit as if in sin}bewildered.
26 “The sword that reaches it cannot avail,
Nor the spear, the dart, or the javelin.
27 “It regards iron as straw,
Bronze as rotten wood.
28 “The ^{▼▼Lit son of the bow}arrow cannot make it flee;
Slingstones are turned into stubble for it.
29 “Clubs are regarded as stubble;
It laughs at the rattling of the javelin.
30 “Its underparts are like sharp potsherds;
It ^{▼▼Or moves across}spreads out like a threshing sledge on the mire.
31 “It makes the depths boil like a pot;
It makes the sea like a jar of ointment.
32 “Behind it, it makes a wake to shine;
One would think the deep to be gray-haired.
33 “There is nothing upon the ^{▼▼Or earth}dust like it,
One made without terror.
34 “ ^{▼▼Ch 41:26 in Heb}It looks on everything that is high;
It is king over all the sons of pride.”