Job 41
1 But will you catch the serpent with a hook, and put a halter about his nose?
Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook? Or tie up his jaws with a cord?
2 Or will you fasten a ring in his nostril, and bore his lip with a clasp?
Can you put a rope into his nose, or pierce his jaw through with a hook?
3 Will he address you with a petition? softly, with the voice of a suppliant?
Will he make many pleas to you? Will he speak soft words to you?
4 And will he make a covenant with you? and will you take him for a perpetual servant?
Will he make a covenant with you, that you should take him for a servant forever?
5 And will you play with him as with a bird? or bind him as a sparrow for a child?
Will you play with him as you would with a bird? Will you tie him up for your servant girls?
6 And do the nations feed upon him, and the nations of the Phoenicians share him?
Will the groups of fishermen bargain for him? Will they divide him up to trade among the merchants?
7 And all the ships come together would not be able to bear the mere skin of his tail; neither [shall they carry] his head in fishing vessels.
Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?
8 But you shall lay your hand upon him [once], remembering the war that is waged by his mouth; and let it not be done any more.
Put your hand on him just once, and you will remember the battle and do it no more.
9 Hast you not seen him? and have you not wondered at the things said [of him]?
See, the hope of anyone who does that is a lie; will not anyone be thrown down to the ground just by the sight of him?
10 Do you not fear because preparation has been made by me? for who is there that resists me?
None is so fierce that he dare stir Leviathan up; who, then, is he who can stand before me?
11 Or who will resist me, and abide, since the whole [world] under heaven is mine?
Who has first given anything to me in order that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole sky is mine.
12 I will not be silent because of him: though because of his power [one] shall pity his antagonist.
I will not keep silent concerning Leviathan's legs, nor about the matter of his strength, nor about his graceful form.
13 Who will open the face of his garment? and who can enter within the fold of his breastplate?
Who can strip off his outer covering? Who can penetrate his double armor?
14 Who will open the doors of his face? terror is round about his teeth.
Who can open the doors of his face— ringed with his teeth, which are a terror?
15 His inwards are as brazen plates, and the texture of his [skin] as a smyrite stone.
his back is made up of rows of shields, tight together as with a close seal.
16 One [part] cleaves fast to another, and the air can’t come between them.
One is so near to another that no air can come between them.
17 They will remain united each to the other: they are closely joined, and can’t be separated.
They are joined to each other; they stick together, so that they cannot be pulled apart.
18 At his sneezing a light shines, and his eyes are [as] the appearance of the morning star.
Light flashes out from his snorting; his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning dawn.
19 Out of his mouth proceed as it were burning lamps, and as it were hearths of fire are cast abroad.
Out of his mouth go burning torches, sparks of fire leap out.
20 Out of his nostrils proceeds smoke of a furnace burning with fire of coals.
Out of his nostrils goes smoke like a boiling pot on a fire that has been fanned to be very hot.
21 His breath is [as] live coals, and a flame goes out of his mouth.
His breath kindles coals into flame; fires go out from his mouth.
22 And power is lodged in his neck, before him destruction runs.
In his neck is strength, and terror dances in front of him.
23 The flesh also of his body is joined together: [if one] pours [violence] upon him, he shall not be moved.
The folds of his flesh are joined together; they are firm on him; they cannot be moved.
24 His heart is firm as a stone, and it stands like an unyielding anvil.
His heart is as hard as a stone— indeed, as hard as a lower millstone.
25 And when he turns, [he is] a terror to the four-footed wild beasts which leap upon the earth.
When he raises himself up, even the gods become afraid; because of fear, they draw back.
26 If spears should come against him, [men] will effect nothing, [either with] the spear or the breast-plate.
If a sword strikes him, it does nothing— and neither does a spear, an arrow, or any other pointed weapon.
27 For he considers iron as chaff, and brass as rotten wood.
He thinks of iron as if it were straw, and of bronze as if it were rotten wood.
28 The bow of brass shall not would him, he deems a slinger as grass.
An arrow cannot make him flee; to him sling stones become chaff.
29 Mauls are counted as stubble; and he laughs to scorn the waving of the firebrand.
Clubs are regarded as straw; he laughs at the whirring flight of a spear.
30 His lair is [formed of] sharp points; and all the gold of the sea under him is an immense [quantity of] clay.
His lower parts are like sharp pieces of broken pottery; he leaves a spreading trail in the mud as if he were a threshing sledge.
31 He makes the deep boil like a brazen caldron; and he regards the sea as a pot of ointment,
He makes the deep to foam up like a pot of boiling water; he makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
32 and the lowest part of the deep as a captive: he reckons the deep as [his] range.
He makes a shining wake behind him; one would think the deep had gray hair.
33 There is nothing upon the earth like to him, formed to be sported with by my angels.
On earth there is no equal to him, who has been made to live without fear.
34 He beholds every high thing: and he is king of all that are in the waters.
He sees everything that is proud; he is king over all the sons of pride.”
