Job 41

1 Or can you pull in the sea beast, Leviathan, with a fly rod and stuff him in your creel?
2 Can you lasso him with a rope, or snag him with an anchor?
3 Will he beg you over and over for mercy, or flatter you with flowery speech?
4 Will he apply for a job with you to run errands and serve you the rest of your life?
5 Will you play with him as if he were a pet goldfish? Will you make him the mascot of the neighborhood children?
6 Will you put him on display in the market and have shoppers haggle over the price?
7 Could you shoot him full of arrows like a pin cushion, or drive harpoons into his huge head?
8 If you so much as lay a hand on him, you won't live to tell the story.
9 What hope would you have with such a creature? Why, one look at him would do you in!
10 If you can't hold your own against his glowering visage, how, then, do you expect to stand up to me?
11 Who could confront me and get by with it? I'm in charge of all this - I run this universe!
12 "But I've more to say about Leviathan, the sea beast, his enormous bulk, his beautiful shape.
13 Who would even dream of piercing that tough skin or putting those jaws into bit and bridle?
14 And who would dare knock at the door of his mouth filled with row upon row of fierce teeth?
15 His pride is invincible; nothing can make a dent in that pride.
16 Nothing can get through that proud skin - impervious to weapons and weather,
17 The thickest and toughest of hides, impenetrable!
18 "He snorts and the world lights up with fire, he blinks and the dawn breaks.
19 Comets pour out of his mouth, fireworks arc and branch.
20 Smoke erupts from his nostrils like steam from a boiling pot.
21 He blows and fires blaze; flames of fire stream from his mouth.
22 All muscle he is - sheer and seamless muscle. To meet him is to dance with death.
23 Sinewy and lithe, there's not a soft spot in his entire body -
24 As tough inside as out, rock-hard, invulnerable.
25 Even angels run for cover when he surfaces, cowering before his tail-thrashing turbulence.
26 Javelins bounce harmlessly off his hide, harpoons ricochet wildly.
27 Iron bars are so much straw to him, bronze weapons beneath notice.
28 Arrows don't even make him blink; bullets make no more impression than raindrops.
29 A battle ax is nothing but a splinter of kindling; he treats a brandished harpoon as a joke.
30 His belly is armor-plated, inexorable - unstoppable as a barge.
31 He roils deep ocean the way you'd boil water, he whips the sea like you'd whip an egg into batter.
32 With a luminous trail stretching out behind him, you might think Ocean had grown a gray beard!
33 There's nothing on this earth quite like him, not an ounce of fear in that creature!
34 He surveys all the high and mighty - king of the ocean, king of the deep!"

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.

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

Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.