God's New Bible

The Book of Job

Unlocked Dynamic Bible :: World English Bible Catholic

- Chapter 41 -

1
“Think also about crocodiles. Can you catch them with a fishhook or fasten their jaws with a rope?
2
Can you put ropes through their noses to control them or thrust hooks through their jaws?
3
Will they plead with you to act mercifully toward them or use sweet talk in order that you will not harm them?
4
Will they make an agreement with you to work for you, to be your slaves as long as they live?
5
Can you make them into pets like you do birds? Can you put a leash around their necks so that your servant girls can play with them?
6
Will men who partner in selling fish try to sell them in the market? Will they cut a crocodile up into pieces and sell the meat?
7
Can you pierce crocodiles through their hides by throwing fishing spears at them? Can you pierce their heads with a harpoon?
8
If you grab one of them with your hands, it will give you a battle that you will never forget, and you will never try to do it again!
9
It is useless to even hope to subdue them. Anyone who tries to subdue one of them will fall to the ground out of fear.
10
No one dares to make a crocodile angry. So, since I am much more powerful than they are, who would dare to cause me to be angry?
11
Also, everything on the earth is mine. Therefore, no one is able to give anything to me and require me to pay money for it!
12
I will tell you about how strong crocodiles’ legs are and how strong their well formed bodies are.
13
Can anyone strip off their hides? Can anyone pierce through their double layer of armor?
14
Can anyone pry open their jaws, which have terrible teeth in them?
15
They have rows of scales on their back which are as hard as rock.
16
The scales are very close together; not even air can get between them.
17
The scales are joined very closely to each other, and they cannot be separated.
18
When crocodiles sneeze, the tiny drops of water that come out of their noses sparkle in the sunlight. Their eyes are red like the rising sun.
19
It is as though sparks of fire poured out of their mouths.
20
Smoke pours out of their nostrils as steam comes out of a pot that is put over a very, very hot fire.
21
Their breath can cause coals to blaze and flames to shoot out from their mouths.
22
Their necks are very strong; wherever they go, they make people very afraid.
23
The folds in their flesh are very close together and are very hard.
24
They are fearless because the inner parts of their bodies are as hard as a rock, as hard as the lower millstone on which people grind grain.
25
When they rise up, they cause even very strong people to be terrified. As a result, people fall back.
26
People cannot injure them with swords; spears, arrows, or other weapons with sharp points cannot injure them, either.
27
They certainly are not afraid of weapons made of straw or rotten wood, but they are not even afraid of weapons made of iron or bronze!
28
Shooting arrows at them does not cause them to run away. Hurling stones at them from a sling is like hurling bits of chaff at them.
29
They are not afraid of clubs anymore than they would be afraid of men throwing bits of straw at them, and they laugh when they hear a spear coming at them.
30
Their bellies are covered with scales that are as sharp as broken pieces of pottery. When they drag themselves through the mud, their bellies tear up the ground like a plow.
31
They stir up the water and cause it to foam as they churn through it.
32
As they go through the water, their wakes glisten. People who see it would think that the foam had become white hair.
33
There are no creatures on earth that I have created as fearless as crocodiles.
34
They are the proudest of all the creatures; they are like kings over all the other wild animals.”
1
Can you draw out Leviathan(a) with a fish hook, or press down his tongue with a cord?
2
Can you put a rope into his nose, or pierce his jaw through with a hook?
3
Will he make many petitions to you, or will he speak soft words to you?
4
Will he make a covenant with you, that you should take him for a servant forever?
5
Will you play with him as with a bird? Or will you bind him for your girls?
6
Will traders barter for him? Will they part him among the merchants?
7
Can you fill his skin with barbed irons, or his head with fish spears?
8
Lay your hand on him. Remember the battle, and do so no more.
9
Behold, the hope of him is in vain. Won’t one be cast down even at the sight of him?
10
None is so fierce that he dare stir him up. Who then is he who can stand before me?
11
Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Everything under the heavens is mine.
12
I will not keep silence concerning his limbs, nor his mighty strength, nor his goodly frame.
13
Who can strip off his outer garment? Who will come within his jaws?
14
Who can open the doors of his face? Around his teeth is terror.
15
Strong scales are his pride, shut up together with a close seal.
16
One is so near to another, that no air can come between them.
17
They are joined to one another. They stick together, so that they can’t be pulled apart.
18
His sneezing flashes out light. His eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
19
Out of his mouth go burning torches. Sparks of fire leap out.
20
Out of his nostrils a smoke goes, as of a boiling pot over a fire of reeds.
21
His breath kindles coals. A flame goes out of his mouth.
22
There is strength in his neck. Terror dances before him.
23
The flakes of his flesh are joined together. They are firm on him. They can’t be moved.
24
His heart is as firm as a stone, yes, firm as the lower millstone.
25
When he raises himself up, the mighty are afraid. They retreat before his thrashing.
26
If one attacks him with the sword, it can’t prevail; nor the spear, the dart, nor the pointed shaft.
27
He counts iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood.
28
The arrow can’t make him flee. Sling stones are like chaff to him.
29
Clubs are counted as stubble. He laughs at the rushing of the javelin.
30
His undersides are like sharp potsherds, leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.
31
He makes the deep to boil like a pot. He makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
32
He makes a path shine after him. One would think the deep had white hair.
33
On earth there is not his equal, that is made without fear.
34
He sees everything that is high. He is king over all the sons of pride.”

Footnotes

(a)41:1 Leviathan is a name for a crocodile or similar creature.