Leviathan

¹Can you draw out Leviathan with a hook,[#41.1 40:25 in Heb]

restrain his tongue with a rope?

²Can you put a cord through his nose,

pierce his jaw with a barb?

³Will he beg you at length

or speak gentle words to you?

⁴Will he make a pact with you

so that you will take him as a permanent slave?

⁵Can you play with him like a bird,

put a leash on him for your girls?

⁶Will merchants sell him;

will they divide him among traders?

⁷Can you fill his hide with darts,

his head with a fishing spear?

⁸Should you lay your hand on him,

you would never remember the battle.

⁹Such hopes would be delusional;[#41.9 Or his hopes]

surely the sight of him makes one stumble.

¹⁰Nobody is fierce enough to rouse him;

who then can stand before me?

¹¹Who opposes me that I must repay?

Everything under heaven is mine.

¹²I’m not awed by his limbs,

his strength, and impressive form.

¹³Who can remove his outer garment;

who can come with a bridle for him?

¹⁴Who can open the doors of his mouth,

surrounded by frightening teeth?

¹⁵His matching scales are his pride,

closely locked and sealed.

¹⁷Each clings to its pair;

joined, they can’t be separated.

¹⁸His sneezes emit flashes of light;

his eyes are like dawn’s rays.

¹⁹Shafts of fire shoot from his mouth;

like fiery sparks they fly out.

²⁰Smoke pours from his nostrils

like a boiling pot over reeds.

²¹His breath lights coals;

a flame shoots from his mouth.

²²Power resides in his neck;

violence dances before him.

²³The folds of his flesh stick together;

on him they are tough and unyielding.

²⁴His heart is solid like a rock,

hard like a lower millstone.

²⁵The divine beings dread his rising;

they withdraw before his thrashing.

²⁶The sword that touches him won’t prevail;

neither will the dart, spear, nor javelin.

²⁷He treats iron as straw,

bronze as rotten wood.

²⁸Arrows can’t make him flee;

slingstones he turns to straw.

²⁹He treats a club like straw;

he laughs at the lance’s rattle.

³⁰His abdomen is like jagged pottery shards;

its sharp edges leave a trail in the mud.

³¹He causes the depths to churn like a boiling pot,

stirs up the sea like a pot of scented oils,

³³None on earth can compare to him;

he is made to be without fear.

³⁴He looks on all the proud;

he is king over all proud beasts.