Job 41
41
The LORD Continues: Can You Conquer Leviathan, Job?
1 # 41:1
Job 41:1–34
in English Bibles is Job 40:25–41:26 in the Hebrew Bible. “Can you pull Leviathan out ⌞of the water⌟ with a fishhook
or tie its tongue down with a rope?
2Can you put a ring through its nose
or pierce its jaw with a hook?
3Will it plead with you for mercy
or speak tenderly to you?
4Will it make an agreement with you
so that you can take it as your permanent slave?
5Can you play with it like a bird
or keep it on a leash for your girls?
6Will traders bargain over it
and divide it among the merchants?
7Can you fill its hide with harpoons
or its head with fishing spears?
8Lay your hand on it.
Think of the struggle!
Don’t do it again!
9Certainly, any hope ⌞of defeating it⌟ is a false hope.
Doesn’t the sight of it overwhelm you?
10No one is brave enough to provoke Leviathan.
Then who can stand in front of me? #41:10 Some Hebrew manuscripts; many Hebrew manuscripts “it.”
11Who can confront me that I should repay him?
Everything under heaven belongs to me!
12“I will not be silent about Leviathan’s limbs,
its strength, or its graceful form.
13Who can skin its hide?
Who can approach it with a harness?
14Who can open its closed mouth?
Its teeth are surrounded by terror.
15Its back has rows of scales that are tightly sealed.
16One is so close to the other
that there is no space between them.
17Each is joined to the other.
They are locked together and inseparable.
18When Leviathan sneezes, it gives out a flash of light.
Its eyes are like the first rays of the dawn.
19Flames shoot from its mouth.
Sparks of fire fly from it.
20Smoke comes from its nostrils
like a boiling pot heated over brushwood.
21Its breath sets coals on fire,
and a flame pours from its mouth.
22Strength resides in its neck,
and power dances in front of it.
23The folds of its flesh stick to each other.
They are solid and cannot be moved.
24Its chest is solid like a rock,
solid like a millstone.
25“The mighty are afraid when Leviathan rises.
Broken down, they draw back.
26A sword may strike it but not pierce it.
Neither will a spear, lance, or dart.
27It considers iron to be like straw
and bronze to be like rotten wood.
28An arrow won’t make it run away.
Stones from a sling turn to dust against it.
29It considers clubs to be like stubble,
and it laughs at a rattling javelin.
30Its underside is like sharp pieces of broken pottery.
It stretches out like a threshing #41:30 Threshing is the process of beating stalks to separate them from the grain. sledge on the mud.
31It makes the deep sea boil like a pot.
It stirs up the ocean like a boiling kettle.
32It leaves a shining path behind it
so that the sea appears to have silvery hair.
33Nothing on land can compare to it.
It was made fearless.
34It looks down on all high things.
It is king of everyone who is arrogant.”
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission Society. All rights reserved.
Job 41
41
The LORD continues
Can you catch a sea monster?
1Can you catch a sea monster#41.1 sea monster: The Hebrew text has “Leviathan”, which may refer to a sea monster or possibly to a crocodile in this verse (see the note at 3.8).#Ps 74.14; 104.26; Is 27.1.
by using a fish-hook?
Can you tie its mouth shut
with a rope?
2Can it be led around
by a ring in its nose
or a hook in its jaw?
3Will it beg for mercy?
4Will it surrender
as a slave for life?
5Can it be tied by the leg
like a pet bird
for little girls?
6Is it ever chopped up
and its pieces bargained for
in the fish-market?
7Can it be killed
with harpoons or spears?
8Wrestle with it just once—
that will be the end.
9Merely a glimpse of this monster
makes all courage melt.
10And if it is too fierce
for anyone to attack,
who would dare oppose me?
11I am in command of the world
and in debt to no one.
12What powerful legs,
what a stout body
this monster possesses!
13Who could strip off its armour
or bring it under control
with a harness?
14Who would try to open its jaws,
full of fearsome teeth?
15-17Its back#41.15-17 back: Two ancient translations; Hebrew “pride”. is covered
with shield after shield,
firmly bound and closer together
than breath to breath.
When this monster sneezes
18When this monster sneezes,
lightning flashes, and its eyes
glow like the dawn.
19Sparks and fiery flames
explode from its mouth.
20And smoke spews from its nose
like steam
from a boiling pot,
21while its blazing breath
scorches everything in sight.
22Its neck is so tremendous
that everyone trembles,
23the weakest parts of its body
are harder than iron,
24and its heart is stone.
25When this noisy monster appears,
even the most powerful#41.25 most powerful: Or “gods”.
turn and run in fear.
26No sword or spear can harm it,
27and weapons of bronze or iron
are as useless as straw
or rotten wood.
28Stones thrown from a sling
cause it no more harm
than husks of grain.
This monster fears no arrows,
29it simply smiles at spears,
and striking it with a stick
is like slapping it with straw.
30As it crawls through the mud,
its sharp and spiny hide
tears the ground apart.
31And when it swims down deep,
the sea starts churning
like boiling oil,
32and it leaves behind a trail
of shining white foam.
33No other creature on earth
is so fearless.
34It is king of all proud creatures,
and it looks upon the others
as nothing.
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012