JobChapter 41

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¹"Can you pull in Leviathan with a fishhook?
Can you tie down his tongue with a rope? ²Can you put a rope through his nose?
Can you stick a hook through his jaw? ³Will he beg you for mercy?
Will he speak gently to you? ⁴Will he make a covenant with you
so you can keep him as your slave for life? ⁵Can you play with him like a pet bird?
Can you put him on a leash for your young girls? ⁶Will traders bargain for him?
Will they cut him up and share him among the merchants? ⁷Can you fill his skin with harpoons?
Can you fill his head with fishing spears? ⁸If you put your hand on him,
you will remember the fight.
You will never do it again! ⁹Any hope of beating him is false.
Just seeing him is too much for anyone! ¹⁰No one is brave enough to wake Leviathan.
Then who can stand up against me? ¹¹Who has given me anything that I must pay back?
Everything under heaven belongs to me. ¹²I will not keep quiet about his legs.
I will speak about his power and his fine shape. ¹³Who can strip off his outer coat?
Who can come near him with a bridle? ¹⁴Who can open his mouth?
It is circled by his scary teeth. ¹⁵His rows of scales are his pride.
They are sealed tightly together. ¹⁶Each scale is so close to the next
that no air can get between them. ¹⁷They are joined to each other.
They hold on tight and can't be pulled apart. ¹⁸When he snorts, light flashes.
His eyes are like the rays of the sunrise. ¹⁹Burning torches stream out of his mouth.
Sparks of fire shoot out! ²⁰Smoke pours out of his nose,
like smoke from a boiling pot over burning reeds. ²¹His breath sets coals on fire.
Flames pour out of his mouth. ²²His neck is full of strength.
Fear jumps ahead of him. ²³The folds of his skin are tightly joined.
They are firm and can't be moved. ²⁴His chest is as hard as a rock.
It is as hard as a bottom millstone! ²⁵When Leviathan rises up, the mighty are terrified.
They back away when he thrashes. ²⁶A sword that hits him does nothing.
A spear, a dart, or an arrow does nothing either. ²⁷To him, iron is like straw.
Bronze is like rotten wood. ²⁸Arrows can't make him run away.
Stones from a sling are like chaff to him. ²⁹To him, a club is like straw.
He laughs at the sound of the lance. ³⁰His underside is like sharp pieces of broken pottery.
He leaves marks in the mud like a threshing sledge. ³¹He makes the deep water boil like a pot.
He stirs up the sea like a jar of ointment. ³²He leaves a shining trail behind him.
You would think the deep sea had white hair! ³³Nothing on earth is equal to him.
He is a creature with no fear! ³⁴He looks down on all the proud.
He is king over all who are proud."