Job 41
41
I Run This Universe
1-11“Or can you pull in the sea beast, Leviathan, with a fly rod
and stuff him in your creel?
Can you lasso him with a rope,
or snag him with an anchor?
Will he beg you over and over for mercy,
or flatter you with flowery speech?
Will he apply for a job with you
to run errands and serve you the rest of your life?
Will you play with him as if he were a pet goldfish?
Will you make him the mascot of the neighborhood children?
Will you put him on display in the market
and have shoppers haggle over the price?
Could you shoot him full of arrows like a pin cushion,
or drive harpoons into his huge head?
If you so much as lay a hand on him,
you won’t live to tell the story.
What hope would you have with such a creature?
Why, one look at him would do you in!
If you can’t hold your own against his glowering visage,
how, then, do you expect to stand up to me?
Who could confront me and get by with it?
I’m in charge of all this—I run this universe!
12-17“But I’ve more to say about Leviathan, the sea beast,
his enormous bulk, his beautiful shape.
Who would even dream of piercing that tough skin
or putting those jaws into bit and bridle?
And who would dare knock at the door of his mouth
filled with row upon row of fierce teeth?
His pride is invincible;
nothing can make a dent in that pride.
Nothing can get through that proud skin—
impervious to weapons and weather,
The thickest and toughest of hides,
impenetrable!
18-34“He snorts and the world lights up with fire,
he blinks and the dawn breaks.
Comets pour out of his mouth,
fireworks arc and branch.
Smoke erupts from his nostrils
like steam from a boiling pot.
He blows and fires blaze;
flames of fire stream from his mouth.
All muscle he is—sheer and seamless muscle.
To meet him is to dance with death.
Sinewy and lithe,
there’s not a soft spot in his entire body—
As tough inside as out,
rock-hard, invulnerable.
Even angels run for cover when he surfaces,
cowering before his tail-thrashing turbulence.
Javelins bounce harmlessly off his hide,
harpoons ricochet wildly.
Iron bars are so much straw to him,
bronze weapons beneath notice.
Arrows don’t even make him blink;
bullets make no more impression than raindrops.
A battle ax is nothing but a splinter of kindling;
he treats a brandished harpoon as a joke.
His belly is armor-plated, inexorable—
unstoppable as a barge.
He roils deep ocean the way you’d boil water,
he whips the sea like you’d whip an egg into batter.
With a luminous trail stretching out behind him,
you might think Ocean had grown a gray beard!
There’s nothing on this earth quite like him,
not an ounce of fear in that creature!
He surveys all the high and mighty—
king of the ocean, king of the deep!”
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Job 41: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
Job 41
41
Leviathan
1 # 41.1 40:25 in Heb Can you draw out Leviathan with a hook,
restrain his tongue with a rope?
2Can you put a cord through his nose,
pierce his jaw with a barb?
3Will he beg you at length
or speak gentle words to you?
4Will he make a pact with you
so that you will take him as a permanent slave?
5Can you play with him like a bird,
put a leash on him for your girls?
6Will merchants sell him;
will they divide him among traders?
7Can you fill his hide with darts,
his head with a fishing spear?
8Should you lay your hand on him,
you would never remember the battle.
9Such hopes#41.9 Or his hopes would be delusional;
surely the sight of him makes one stumble.
10Nobody is fierce enough to rouse him;
who then can stand before me?
11Who opposes me that I must repay?
Everything under heaven is mine.
12I’m not awed by his limbs,
his strength, and impressive form.
13Who can remove his outer garment;
who can come with a bridle for him?
14Who can open the doors of his mouth,
surrounded by frightening teeth?
15His matching scales are his pride,
closely locked and sealed.
16One touches another;
even air can’t come between them.
17Each clings to its pair;
joined, they can’t be separated.
18His sneezes emit flashes of light;
his eyes are like dawn’s rays.
19Shafts of fire shoot from his mouth;
like fiery sparks they fly out.
20Smoke pours from his nostrils
like a boiling pot over reeds.
21His breath lights coals;
a flame shoots from his mouth.
22Power resides in his neck;
violence dances before him.
23The folds of his flesh stick together;
on him they are tough and unyielding.
24His heart is solid like a rock,
hard like a lower millstone.
25The divine beings dread his rising;
they withdraw before his thrashing.
26The sword that touches him won’t prevail;
neither will the dart, spear, nor javelin.
27He treats iron as straw,
bronze as rotten wood.
28Arrows can’t make him flee;
slingstones he turns to straw.
29He treats a club like straw;
he laughs at the lance’s rattle.
30His abdomen is like jagged pottery shards;
its sharp edges leave a trail in the mud.
31He causes the depths to churn like a boiling pot,
stirs up the sea like a pot of scented oils,
32leaves a bright wake behind him;
the frothy deep seems white-haired.
33None on earth can compare to him;
he is made to be without fear.
34He looks on all the proud;
he is king over all proud beasts.
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.