Job 41

1 "Job, can you pull the leviathan out of the sea with a fish hook? Can you tie down its tongue with a rope?
2 Can you put a rope through its nose? Can you stick a hook through its jaw?
3 Will it keep begging you for mercy? Will it speak gently to you?
4 Will it make an agreement with you? Can you make it your slave for life?
5 Can you make a pet out of it like a bird? Can you put it on a leash for your young women?
6 Will traders offer you something for it? Will they divide it up among the merchants?
7 Can you fill its body with harpoons? Can you throw fishing spears into its head?
8 If you touch it, it will fight you. Then you will remember never to touch it again!
9 No one can possibly control the leviathan. Just looking at it will terrify you.
10 No one dares to wake it up. So who can possibly stand up to me?
11 Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything on earth belongs to me.
12 "Now I will speak about the leviathan's legs. I will talk about its strength and its graceful body.
13 Who can strip off its outer coat? Who would try to put a bridle on it?
14 Who dares to open its jaws? Its mouth is filled with terrifying teeth.
15 Its back has rows of shields that are close together.
16 Each one is so close to the next one that not even air can pass between them.
17 They are joined tightly to one another. They stick together and can't be forced apart.
18 The leviathan's snorting throws out flashes of light. Its eyes shine like the first light of day.
19 Fire seems to spray out of its mouth. Sparks of fire shoot out.
20 Smoke pours out of its nose. It is like smoke from a boiling pot over burning grass.
21 Its breath sets coals on fire. Flames fly out of its mouth.
22 Its neck is very strong. People run to get out of its way.
23 Its rolls of fat are close together. They are firm and can't be moved.
24 Its chest is as hard as rock. It is as hard as a lower millstone.
25 When the leviathan rises up, even mighty people are terrified. They run away when it moves around wildly.
26 A sword that strikes it has no effect. Neither does a spear or dart or javelin.
27 It treats iron as if it were straw. It crushes bronze as if it were rotten wood.
28 Arrows do not make it run away. Stones that are thrown from slings are like straw hitting it.
29 A club seems like a piece of straw to it. It laughs when it hears a javelin rattling.
30 Its undersides are like broken pieces of pottery. It leaves a trail in the mud like a threshing sled.
31 It makes the ocean churn like a boiling pot. It stirs up the sea like perfume someone is making.
32 It leaves a shiny trail behind it. You would think the ocean had white hair.
33 Nothing on earth is equal to the leviathan. That creature is not afraid of anything.
34 It looks down on proud people. It rules over all those who are proud."

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

Holy Bible, New International Reader's Version® Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by Biblica.   All rights reserved worldwide.