Job 41:1-10

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?

Job 41:1-10 Meaning and Commentary

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.

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.