Job 41 The Lords Challenge Continues

The Lord’s Challenge Continues

41 “Can you catch Leviathan 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 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?
¹⁴ Who could pry open its jaws?
    For its teeth are terrible!
¹⁵ The scales on its back 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.”