1“Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook
or tie down his tongue with a rope?
1“ Can you draw out Leviathan with a hook, and press down his tongue with a rope?
2Can you put a cord through his nose
or pierce his jaw with a hook?
2Can you put a cord in his nose, and with a hook pierce his jaw?
3Will he beg you for mercy
or speak to you softly?
3Will he multiply to you supplications? Indeed, will he speak to you softly?
4Will he make a covenant with you
to take him as a slave for life?
4Will he cut a covenant with you, to take him as a slave forever?
5Can you pet him like a bird
or put him on a leash for your maidens?
5Will you play with him like a bird, and leash him for your maidens?
6Will traders barter for him
or divide him among the merchants?
6Will traders barter for him? Will they divide him among the merchants?
7Can you fill his hide with harpoons
or his head with fishing spears?
7Can you fill his skin with harpoons, or his head with spears of fishing?
8If you lay a hand on him,
you will remember the battle and never repeat it!
8Put your hands on him; may you remember the battle, and not add.
9Surely hope of overcoming him is false.
Is not the sight of him overwhelming?
9Behold, the hope of him is false. One is even cast down 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 he would rouse him; and who is he who will stand before my face?
11Who has given to Me that I should repay him?a
Everything under heaven is Mine.
11Who has brought before Me that I should repay him? Under all the heavens it is unto Me.
12I cannot keep silent about his limbs,
his power and graceful form.
12I will not keep silent about his limbs, and the matter of his strength and the grace of his form.
13Who can strip off his outer coat?
Who can approach him with a bridle?a
13Who can uncover the face of his clothing? Who can enter into the double of his bridle?
14Who can open his jaws,
ringed by his fearsome teeth?
14The doors of his face, who can open them? All around his teeth are terror.
15His rows of scales are his pride,
tightly sealed together.
15His rows of shields are his pride, shut up tight with a seal.
16One scale is so near to another
that no air can pass between them.
16One by one they draw near, and air cannot come between them.
17They are joined to one another;
they clasp and cannot be separated.
17They are joined a man to his brother; they clasp together and cannot be separated.
18His snorting flashes with light,
and his eyes are like the rays of dawn.
18His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.
19Firebrands stream from his mouth;
fiery sparks shoot forth!
19From his mouth torches go forth; sparks of fire leap out.
20Smoke billows from his nostrils
as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.
20From his nostrils smoke comes forth, boiling like a pot and a reed.
21His breath sets coals ablaze,
and flames pour from his mouth.
21His breath will kindle the coals, and a flame goes forth from his mouth.
22Strength resides in his neck,
and dismay leaps before him.
22In his neck lodges strength, and before him terror dances.
23The folds of his flesh are tightly joined;
they are firm and immovable.
23The folds of his flesh are joined together, c on him, and it annot be shaken.
24His chest is as hard as a rock,
as hard as a lower millstone!
24His heart is as firm as a stone, even as firm as a lower millstone.
25When Leviathan rises up, the mighty are terrified;
they withdraw before his thrashing.
25From his rising up the mighty are afraid; before his thrashing they cleanse themselves from sin.
26The sword that reaches him has no effect,
nor does the spear or dart or arrow.
26The sword reaching him shall not stand—not spear, dart, or lance.
27He regards iron as straw
and bronze as rotten wood.
27He regards iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood.
28No arrow can make him flee;
slingstones become like chaff to him.
28The son of the bow cannot make him flee; the stones of the sling are turned over before him like stubble.
29A club is regarded as straw,
and he laughs at the sound of the lance.a
29A club is regarded as stubble, and he laughs at the rattle of a lance.
30His undersides are jagged potsherds,
spreading out the mud like a threshing sledge.
30Beneath him are points of a shard; he spreads out like a threshing sledge upon the mud.
31He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron;
he makes the sea like a jar of ointment.
31He makes the deep boil like a pot; he makes the sea like an ointment pot.
32He leaves a glistening wake behind him;
one would think the deep had white hair!
32Behind him he makes a path shine; one would think the deep were white-haired.
33Nothing on earth is his equal—
a creature devoid of fear!
33There is nothing on earth like him, the one made devoid of fear.
34He looks down on all the haughty;
he is king over all the proud.”
34He beholds every high thing; he is king over all the sons of pride.”