Job 41, side by side

¹“Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook or tie down his tongue with a rope?

¹Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down?

²Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?

²Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn?

³Will he beg you for mercy or speak to you softly?

³Will he make many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft words unto thee?

⁴Will he make a covenant with you to take him as a slave for life?

⁴Will he make a covenant with thee? wilt thou take him for a servant for ever?

⁵Can you pet him like a bird or put him on a leash for your maidens?

⁵Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens?

⁶Will traders barter for him or divide him among the merchants?

⁶Shall the companions make a banquet of him? shall they part him among the merchants?

⁷Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?

⁷Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears?

⁸If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the battle and never repeat it!

⁸Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more.

⁹Surely hope of overcoming him is false. Is not the sight of him overwhelming?

⁹Behold, the hope of him is in vain: shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him?

¹⁰No one is so fierce as to rouse Leviathan. Then who is able to stand against Me?

¹⁰None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me?

¹¹Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Everything under heaven is Mine.

¹¹Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him? whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine.

¹²I cannot keep silent about his limbs, his power and graceful form.

¹²I will not conceal his parts, nor his power, nor his comely proportion.

¹³Who can strip off his outer coat? Who can approach him with a bridle?

¹³Who can discover the face of his garment? or who can come to him with his double bridle?

¹⁴Who can open his jaws, ringed by his fearsome teeth?

¹⁴Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about.

¹⁵His rows of scales are his pride, tightly sealed together.

¹⁵His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal.

¹⁶One scale is so near to another that no air can pass between them.

¹⁶One is so near to another, that no air can come between them.

¹⁷They are joined to one another; they clasp and cannot be separated.

¹⁷They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered.

¹⁸His snorting flashes with light, and his eyes are like the rays of dawn.

¹⁸By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

¹⁹Firebrands stream from his mouth; fiery sparks shoot forth!

¹⁹Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out.

²⁰Smoke billows from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.

²⁰Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron.

²¹His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames pour from his mouth.

²¹His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth.

²²Strength resides in his neck, and dismay leaps before him.

²²In his neck remaineth strength, and sorrow is turned into joy before him.

²³The folds of his flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable.

²³The flakes of his flesh are joined together: they are firm in themselves; they cannot be moved.

²⁴His chest is as hard as a rock, as hard as a lower millstone!

²⁴His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone.

²⁵When Leviathan rises up, the mighty are terrified; they withdraw before his thrashing.

²⁵When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid: by reason of breakings they purify themselves.

²⁶The sword that reaches him has no effect, nor does the spear or dart or arrow.

²⁶The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon.

²⁷He regards iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood.

²⁷He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood.

²⁸No arrow can make him flee; slingstones become like chaff to him.

²⁸The arrow cannot make him flee: slingstones are turned with him into stubble.

²⁹A club is regarded as straw, and he laughs at the sound of the lance.

²⁹Darts are counted as stubble: he laugheth at the shaking of a spear.

³⁰His undersides are jagged potsherds, spreading out the mud like a threshing sledge.

³⁰Sharp stones are under him: he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire.

³¹He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron; he makes the sea like a jar of ointment.

³¹He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment.

³²He leaves a glistening wake behind him; one would think the deep had white hair!

³²He maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary.

³³Nothing on earth is his equal— a creature devoid of fear!

³³Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear.

³⁴He looks down on all the haughty; he is king over all the proud.”

³⁴He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride.