Job 41

41 ¹"Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook, or press down his tongue with a cord? ^a a v1 Leviathan is the great untamable sea-creature — a picture of a power no human can master, but which our Father holds with ease. ²Can you put a rope in his nose, or pierce his jaw with a hook? ³Will he make many pleas to you? Will he speak soft words to you? ⁴Will he make a covenant with you, that you should take him as your servant forever? ⁵Will you play with him like a bird, or put him on a leash for your girls? ⁶Will traders bargain over him? Will they divide him up among the merchants? ⁷Can you fill his hide with harpoons, or his head with fishing spears? ⁸Lay your hand on him; remember the battle—you will not do it again. ⁹Any hope of subduing him is false; the mere sight of him will lay you low. ¹⁰No one is fierce enough to rouse him. Who then is able to stand before me? ¹¹Who has confronted me, that I must repay him? Everything under the whole heaven is mine. ^b b v11 Paul echoes this verse — no one has ever given to our Father so as to put him in their debt; everything is already his (Romans 11:35).

¹²"I will not keep silent about his limbs, his mighty strength, or his graceful frame. ¹³Who can strip off his outer covering, or come at him with a double bridle? ¹⁴Who can open the doors of his face? His ringed teeth are surrounded by terror. ¹⁵His back is rows of shields, shut up tightly as with a seal. ¹⁶One is so near to another that no air can pass between them. ¹⁷They are joined one to another; they clasp each other and cannot be parted. ¹⁸His sneezes flash with light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn. ^c c v18 "Eyelids of the dawn" is a Hebrew image for the reddish shimmer of first light — his eyes glow red like a fiery sunrise. ¹⁹Out of his mouth go flaming torches; sparks of fire leap out. ²⁰Out of his nostrils comes smoke, as from a boiling pot over burning reeds. ²¹His breath sets coals ablaze, and a flame leaps from his mouth. ²²Strength dwells in his neck, and terror dances before him. ²³The folds of his flesh stick together, firmly cast upon him and immovable. ²⁴His heart is hard as stone, hard as the lower millstone. ²⁵When he rises up, the mighty are afraid; at the crashing they are beside themselves. ²⁶Though a sword reaches him, it does not hold, nor does the spear, the dart, or the javelin. ²⁷He counts iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood. ²⁸The arrow cannot make him flee; for him, sling stones turn to stubble. ²⁹Clubs are counted as stubble; he laughs at the rattle of the javelin. ³⁰His underside is like sharp pottery shards; he spreads out like a threshing sledge on the mire. ^d d v30 A threshing sledge was a board studded with sharp stones, dragged over grain — Leviathan's belly leaves the same gouged trail. ³¹He makes the deep boil like a pot; he stirs the sea like a churning kettle of ointment. ³²Behind him he leaves a shining wake; one would think the deep had grown white hair. ³³On earth there is nothing like him, a creature made without fear. ³⁴He looks down on all that is lofty; he is king over all the proud."