Job 41

1 [a] Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook[b] or tie his tongue down with a rope?
2 Can you put a cord[c] through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?[d]
3 Will he beg you for mercy or speak softly to you?
4 Will he make a covenant with you so that you can take him as a slave forever?[e]
5 Can you play with him like a bird or put him on a leash[f] for your girls?
6 Will traders bargain for him or divide him among the merchants?
7 Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?
8 Lay a[g] hand on him. You will remember the battle and never repeat it!
9 [h] Any hope of [capturing] him proves false. Does a person not collapse at the very sight of him?
10 No one is ferocious [enough] to rouse Leviathan; who then can stand against Me?[i]
11 Who confronted Me, that I should repay him?[j] Everything under heaven belongs to Me.
12 I cannot be silent about his limbs, his power, and his graceful proportions.
13 Who can strip off his outer covering? Who can penetrate his double layer of armor?[k][l]
14 Who can open his jaws,[m] surrounded by those terrifying teeth?
15 [His] pride is in [his] rows of scales, closely sealed together.[n]
16 One scale is so close to another[o] that no air can pass between them.
17 They are joined to one another, so closely connected[p] they cannot be separated.
18 His snorting[q] flashes with light, while his eyes are like the rays[r] of dawn.
19 Flaming torches shoot[s] from his mouth; fiery sparks fly out!
20 Smoke billows from his nostrils[t] as from a boiling pot or [burning] reeds.
21 His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames pour out of his mouth.[u]
22 Strength resides in his neck, and dismay dances before him.
23 The folds of his flesh are joined together, solid as metal[v] and immovable.
24 His heart is as hard as a rock, as hard as a lower millstone!
25 When Leviathan rises, the mighty[w] are terrified; they withdraw because of [his] thrashing.
26 The sword that reaches him will have no effect, nor will a spear, dart, or arrow.[x]
27 He regards iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood.
28 No arrow can make him flee; slingstones become like stubble to him.
29 A club is regarded as stubble, and he laughs at the whirring of a javelin.[y]
30 His undersides are jagged potsherds, spreading the mud like a threshing sledge.[z]
31 He makes the depths seethe like a caldron; he makes the sea like an ointment jar.
32 He leaves a shining wake behind him;[aa] one would think the deep had white hair!
33 He has no equal on earth- a creature devoid of fear![ab]
34 He surveys everything that is haughty; he is king over all the proud beasts.[ac][ad]

Job 41 Commentary

Chapter 41

Concerning Leviathan.

- The description of the Leviathan, is yet further to convince Job of his own weakness, and of God's almighty power. Whether this Leviathan be a whale or a crocodile, is disputed. The Lord, having showed Job how unable he was to deal with the Leviathan, sets forth his own power in that mighty creature. If such language describes the terrible force of Leviathan, what words can express the power of God's wrath? Under a humbling sense of our own vileness, let us revere the Divine Majesty; take and fill our allotted place, cease from our own wisdom, and give all glory to our gracious God and Saviour. Remembering from whom every good gift cometh, and for what end it was given, let us walk humbly with the Lord.

Footnotes 30

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 41

A large description is here given of the leviathan, from the difficulty and danger of taking it, from whence it is inferred that none can stand before God, Job 41:1-10; from the several parts of him, his face, teeth, scales, eyes, mouth and neck, flesh and heart, Job 41:11-24; and from various wonderful terrible things said of him, and ascribed to him, Job 41:25-34.

Job 41 Commentaries

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