Leviathan
41 Can you pull out Leviathan[a] with a fishhook?[b]
Can you tie down his tongue with a rope?
2 Can you put a reed in his nose
or pierce his jaw with a hook?
3 Will he keep asking for your favor
or speak tender words to you?
4 Will he sign a contract with you
so that you keep him as your servant forever?
5 Can you play with him like a bird?
Can you put him on a leash for your girls?
6 Do the merchants barter for Leviathan’s meat?
Do they divide it up with the other tradesmen?
7 Can you fill his hide with harpoons
and his head with fishing spears?
8 If you lay your hand on him,
you will never forget the battle and won’t do it again.
9 Listen! Any hope you have of overcoming him is unfounded.
Wouldn’t you be knocked down by the mere sight of him?
10 No one is fierce enough to risk stirring him up.[c]
Who then can stand before me?
11 Who can confront me and demand that I repay him?
Everything under the whole sky belongs to me.
12 I will tell about the parts of his body.
I will describe his power and his beautiful design.
13 Who can strip off his outer covering?
Who can touch his double layer of armor?
14 Who dares to open the doors to his mouth,
which is surrounded with terrifying teeth?
15 His back[d] is like rows of shields,
which are tightly joined together.
16 They are so close together not even a breath of air
can pass between them.
17 They are fastened to each other,
so they stick together and cannot be separated.
18 His snorts are flashes of light.
His eyes are like the eyelids of dawn.
19 Blazing torches come out of his mouth.
Sparks of fire shoot out.
20 Smoke pours out from his nostrils
like a pot boiling over a reed fire.
21 His breath sets coals on fire,
and flames come out of his mouth.
22 Strength dwells in his neck.
Despair dances ahead of him.
23 The folds of his flesh are compact,
solid and immovable.
24 His heart is as hard as rock,
as hard as a lower millstone.
25 When he rises up, the mighty are afraid.
When he thrashes around, they retreat.
26 If someone strikes him with a sword, it has no effect.
Neither do spears, arrows, or javelins.
27 To him iron is like straw;
bronze is like rotten wood.
28 Arrows do not make him flee.
To him sling stones are like chaff;
29 clubs are like stubble.
He laughs at the shaking of a javelin.
30 His underbelly is like sharp pieces of broken pottery.
It leaves marks in the mud like a threshing sledge.
31 He makes the depths boil like a cooking pot.
He makes the sea like a cauldron of ointment.
32 He leaves a shiny wake behind him.
The deep looks like a white-haired man.
33 There is nothing at all like him on earth,
a creature without fear.
34 He looks down on everything that is lofty.
He is king over every proud creature!
Footnotes
- Job 41:1 Or the Dragon. This is a poetic description that does not exactly match any animal, though the crocodile is the closest match. Another suggestion that has been made is some form of dinosaur. Dragon (Greek: drakon) is the translation of the Greek Old Testament. The term has satanic overtones. See Revelation 12.
- Job 41:1 English 41:1-8 is equivalent to Hebrew 40:25-32. English 41:9 is Hebrew 41:1.
- Job 41:10 Or He is fierce. No one stirs him up.
- Job 41:15 The translation follows the ancient versions. The Hebrew reading is his pride.