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41 “Can you catch a crocodile[a] with a hook and line? Or put a noose around his tongue? Can you tie him with a rope through the nose, or pierce his jaw with a spike? Will he beg you to desist or try to flatter you from your intentions? Will he agree to let you make him your slave for life? Can you make a pet of him like a bird, or give him to your little girls to play with? Do fishing partners sell him to the fishmongers? Will his hide be hurt by darts, or his head with a harpoon?

“If you lay your hands upon him, you will long remember the battle that ensues and you will never try it again! No, it’s useless to try to capture him. It is frightening even to think about it! 10 No one dares to stir him up, let alone try to conquer him. And if no one can stand before him, who can stand before me? 11 I owe no one anything. Everything under the heaven is mine.

12 “I should mention, too, the tremendous strength in his limbs and throughout his enormous frame. 13 Who can penetrate his hide, or who dares come within reach of his jaws? 14 For his teeth are terrible. 15-17 His overlapping scales are his pride, making a tight seal so no air can get between them, and nothing can penetrate.

18 “When he sneezes, the sunlight sparkles like lightning across the vapor droplets. His eyes glow like sparks. 19 Fire leaps from his mouth. 20 Smoke flows from his nostrils, like steam from a boiling pot that is fired by dry rushes. 21 Yes, his breath would kindle coals—flames leap from his mouth.

22 “The tremendous strength in his neck strikes terror wherever he goes. 23 His flesh is hard and firm, not soft and fat. 24 His heart is hard as rock, just like a millstone. 25 When he stands up, the strongest are afraid. Terror grips them. 26 No sword can stop him, nor spear nor dart nor pointed shaft. 27-28 Iron is nothing but straw to him, and brass is rotten wood. Arrows cannot make him flee. Sling stones are as ineffective as straw. 29 Clubs do no good, and he laughs at the javelins hurled at him. 30 His belly is covered with scales as sharp as shards; they tear up the ground as he drags through the mud.

31-32 “He makes the water boil with his commotion. He churns the depths. He leaves a shining wake of froth behind him. One would think the sea was made of frost! 33 There is nothing else so fearless anywhere on earth. 34 Of all the beasts, he is the proudest—monarch of all that he sees.”

Footnotes

  1. Job 41:1 a crocodile, literally, “leviathan.”

41 [a]“Can you pull in Leviathan(A) with a fishhook(B)
    or tie down its tongue with a rope?
Can you put a cord through its nose(C)
    or pierce its jaw with a hook?(D)
Will it keep begging you for mercy?(E)
    Will it speak to you with gentle words?
Will it make an agreement with you
    for you to take it as your slave for life?(F)
Can you make a pet of it like a bird
    or put it on a leash for the young women in your house?
Will traders barter for it?
    Will they divide it up among the merchants?
Can you fill its hide with harpoons
    or its head with fishing spears?(G)
If you lay a hand on it,
    you will remember the struggle and never do it again!(H)
Any hope of subduing it is false;
    the mere sight of it is overpowering.(I)
10 No one is fierce enough to rouse it.(J)
    Who then is able to stand against me?(K)
11 Who has a claim against me that I must pay?(L)
    Everything under heaven belongs to me.(M)

12 “I will not fail to speak of Leviathan’s limbs,(N)
    its strength(O) and its graceful form.
13 Who can strip off its outer coat?
    Who can penetrate its double coat of armor[b]?(P)
14 Who dares open the doors of its mouth,(Q)
    ringed about with fearsome teeth?
15 Its back has[c] rows of shields
    tightly sealed together;(R)
16 each is so close to the next
    that no air can pass between.
17 They are joined fast to one another;
    they cling together and cannot be parted.
18 Its snorting throws out flashes of light;
    its eyes are like the rays of dawn.(S)
19 Flames(T) stream from its mouth;
    sparks of fire shoot out.
20 Smoke pours from its nostrils(U)
    as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.
21 Its breath(V) sets coals ablaze,
    and flames dart from its mouth.(W)
22 Strength(X) resides in its neck;
    dismay goes before it.
23 The folds of its flesh are tightly joined;
    they are firm and immovable.
24 Its chest is hard as rock,
    hard as a lower millstone.(Y)
25 When it rises up, the mighty are terrified;(Z)
    they retreat before its thrashing.(AA)
26 The sword that reaches it has no effect,
    nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin.(AB)
27 Iron it treats like straw(AC)
    and bronze like rotten wood.
28 Arrows do not make it flee;(AD)
    slingstones are like chaff to it.
29 A club seems to it but a piece of straw;(AE)
    it laughs(AF) at the rattling of the lance.
30 Its undersides are jagged potsherds,
    leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.(AG)
31 It makes the depths churn like a boiling caldron(AH)
    and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment.(AI)
32 It leaves a glistening wake behind it;
    one would think the deep had white hair.
33 Nothing on earth is its equal(AJ)
    a creature without fear.
34 It looks down on all that are haughty;(AK)
    it is king over all that are proud.(AL)

Footnotes

  1. Job 41:1 In Hebrew texts 41:1-8 is numbered 40:25-32, and 41:9-34 is numbered 41:1-26.
  2. Job 41:13 Septuagint; Hebrew double bridle
  3. Job 41:15 Or Its pride is its