Job 41

Berean Standard Bible

Chapter summary

God questions Job about his inability to capture, tame, or defeat Leviathan, a creature so fierce that no one dares to rouse him. The Lord then declares that everything under heaven belongs to Him, emphasizing His sovereign power through a detailed description of Leviathan's anatomy. The creature possesses impenetrable scales, glowing eyes, and a mouth that breathes fire and smoke, while its chest and flesh remain as hard as rock. Weapons such as swords, spears, arrows, and clubs have no effect against him, as he treats iron like straw and bronze like rotten wood. Leviathan causes the deep sea to seethe like a boiling cauldron and leaves a glistening wake behind him as he moves. Finally, the text notes that nothing on earth is equal to this fearless creature, which rules as king over all the proud.

Summary automatically generated from the Bible text.

Words of Jesus in red

¹“Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook or tie down his tongue with a rope? ²Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook? ³Will he beg you for mercy or speak to you softly? ⁴Will he make a covenant with you to take him as a slave for life? ⁵Can you pet him like a bird or put him on a leash for your maidens? ⁶Will traders barter for him or divide him among the merchants? ⁷Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears? ⁸If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the battle and never repeat it! ⁹Surely hope of overcoming him is false. Is not the sight of him overwhelming? ¹⁰No one is so fierce as to rouse Leviathan. Then who is able to stand against Me? ¹¹Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Everything under heaven is Mine. ¹²I cannot keep silent about his limbs, his power and graceful form. ¹³Who can strip off his outer coat? Who can approach him with a bridle? ¹⁴Who can open his jaws, ringed by his fearsome teeth? ¹⁵His rows of scales are his pride, tightly sealed together. ¹⁶One scale is so near to another that no air can pass between them. ¹⁷They are joined to one another; they clasp and cannot be separated. ¹⁸His snorting flashes with light, and his eyes are like the rays of dawn. ¹⁹Firebrands stream from his mouth; fiery sparks shoot forth! ²⁰Smoke billows from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds. ²¹His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames pour from his mouth. ²²Strength resides in his neck, and dismay leaps before him. ²³The folds of his flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable. ²⁴His chest is as hard as a rock, as hard as a lower millstone! ²⁵When Leviathan rises up, the mighty are terrified; they withdraw before his thrashing. ²⁶The sword that reaches him has no effect, nor does the spear or dart or arrow. ²⁷He regards iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood. ²⁸No arrow can make him flee; slingstones become like chaff to him. ²⁹A club is regarded as straw, and he laughs at the sound of the lance. ³⁰His undersides are jagged potsherds, spreading out the mud like a threshing sledge. ³¹He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron; he makes the sea like a jar of ointment. ³²He leaves a glistening wake behind him; one would think the deep had white hair! ³³Nothing on earth is his equal— a creature devoid of fear! ³⁴He looks down on all the haughty; he is king over all the proud.”

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Louis Segond 1910 and Berean Standard Bible: public domain. Cross references: open-cross-ref, Creative Commons BY 4.0.