41:1 "Can you draw out Levi'athan with a fishhook, or press down his tongue with a cord? |
41:2 Can you put a rope in his nose, or pierce his jaw with a hook? |
41:3 Will he make many supplications to you? Will he speak to you soft words? |
41:4 Will he make a covenant with you to take him for your servant for ever? |
41:5 Will you play with him as with a bird, or will you put him on leash for your maidens? |
41:6 Will traders bargain over him? Will they divide him up among the merchants? |
41:7 Can you fill his skin with harpoons, or his head with fishing spears? |
41:8 Lay hands on him; think of the battle; you will not do it again! |
41:9 Behold, the hope of a man is disappointed; he is laid low even at the sight of him. |
41:10 No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up. Who then is he that can stand before me? |
41:11 Who has given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine. |
41:12 "I will not keep silence concerning his limbs, or his mighty strength, or his goodly frame. |
41:13 Who can strip off his outer garment? Who can penetrate his double coat of mail? |
41:14 Who can open the doors of his face? Round about his teeth is terror. |
41:15 His back is made of rows of shields, shut up closely as with a seal. |
41:16 One is so near to another that no air can come between them. |
41:17 They are joined one to another; they clasp each other and cannot be separated. |
41:18 His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn. |
41:19 Out of his mouth go flaming torches; sparks of fire leap forth. |
41:20 Out of his nostrils comes forth smoke, as from a boiling pot and burning rushes. |
41:21 His breath kindles coals, and a flame comes forth from his mouth. |
41:22 In his neck abides strength, and terror dances before him. |
41:23 The folds of his flesh cleave together, firmly cast upon him and immovable. |
41:24 His heart is hard as a stone, hard as the nether millstone. |
41:25 When he raises himself up the mighty are afraid; at the crashing they are beside themselves. |
41:26 Though the sword reaches him, it does not avail; nor the spear, the dart, or the javelin. |
41:27 He counts iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood. |
41:28 The arrow cannot make him flee; for him slingstones are turned to stubble. |
41:29 Clubs are counted as stubble; he laughs at the rattle of javelins. |
41:30 His underparts are like sharp potsherds; he spreads himself like a threshing sledge on the mire. |
41:31 He makes the deep boil like a pot; he makes the sea like a pot of ointment. |
41:32 Behind him he leaves a shining wake; one would think the deep to be hoary. |
41:33 Upon earth there is not his like, a creature without fear. |
41:34 He beholds everything that is high; he is king over all the sons of pride." |