Job 41

The LORD’s Challenge Continues ¹ Verses 41:1-8 are numbered 40:25-32 in Hebrew text.“Can you catch Leviathan The identification of Leviathan is disputed, ranging from an earthly creature to a mythical sea monster in ancient literature. with a hook or put a noose around its jaw? ² Can you tie it with a rope through the nose or pierce its jaw with a spike? ³ Will it beg you for mercy or implore you for pity? ⁴ Will it agree to work for you, to be your slave for life? ⁵ Can you make it a pet like a bird, or give it to your little girls to play with? ⁶ Will merchants try to buy it to sell it in their shops? ⁷ Will its hide be hurt by spears or its head by a harpoon? ⁸ If you lay a hand on it, you will certainly remember the battle that follows. You won’t try that again! ⁹ Verses 41:9-34 are numbered 41:1-26 in Hebrew text.No, it is useless to try to capture it. The hunter who attempts it will be knocked down. ¹⁰ And since no one dares to disturb it, who then can stand up to me? ¹¹ Who has given me anything that I need to pay back? Everything under heaven is mine.

¹²“I want to emphasize Leviathan’s limbs and its enormous strength and graceful form. ¹³ Who can strip off its hide, and who can penetrate its double layer of armor? As in Greek version; Hebrew reads its bridle? ¹⁴ Who could pry open its jaws? For its teeth are terrible! ¹⁵ Its scales are like rows of shields tightly sealed together. ¹⁶ They are so close together that no air can get between them. ¹⁷ Each scale sticks tight to the next. They interlock and cannot be penetrated.

¹⁸“When it sneezes, it flashes light! Its eyes are like the red of dawn. ¹⁹ Lightning leaps from its mouth; flames of fire flash out. ²⁰ Smoke streams from its nostrils like steam from a pot heated over burning rushes. ²¹ Its breath would kindle coals, for flames shoot from its mouth.

²²“The tremendous strength in Leviathan’s neck strikes terror wherever it goes. ²³ Its flesh is hard and firm and cannot be penetrated. ²⁴ Its heart is hard as rock, hard as a millstone. ²⁵ When it rises, the mighty are afraid, gripped by terror. ²⁶ No sword can stop it, no spear, dart, or javelin. ²⁷ Iron is nothing but straw to that creature, and bronze is like rotten wood. ²⁸ Arrows cannot make it flee. Stones shot from a sling are like bits of grass. ²⁹ Clubs are like a blade of grass, and it laughs at the swish of javelins. ³⁰ Its belly is covered with scales as sharp as glass. It plows up the ground as it drags through the mud.

³¹“Leviathan makes the water boil with its commotion. It stirs the depths like a pot of ointment. ³² The water glistens in its wake, making the sea look white. ³³ Nothing on earth is its equal, no other creature so fearless. ³⁴ Of all the creatures, it is the proudest. It is the king of beasts.”