Common English Bible CEB
New Revised Standard NRS
1 Can you draw out Leviathan with a hook, restrain his tongue with a rope?
1
"Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook, or press down its tongue with a cord?
2 Can you put a cord through his nose, pierce his jaw with a barb?
2
Can you put a rope in its nose, or pierce its jaw with a hook?
3 Will he beg you at length or speak gentle words to you?
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Will it make many supplications to you? Will it speak soft words to you?
4 Will he make a pact with you so that you will take him as a permanent slave?
4
Will it make a covenant with you to be taken as your servant forever?
5 Can you play with him like a bird, put a leash on him for your girls?
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Will you play with it as with a bird, or will you put it on leash for your girls?
6 Will merchants sell him; will they divide him among traders?
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Will traders bargain over it? Will they divide it up among the merchants?
7 Can you fill his hide with darts, his head with a fishing spear?
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Can you fill its skin with harpoons, or its head with fishing spears?
8 Should you lay your hand on him, you would never remember the battle.
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Lay hands on it; think of the battle; you will not do it again!
9 Such hopes would be delusional; surely the sight of him makes one stumble.
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Any hope of capturing it will be disappointed; were not even the gods overwhelmed at the sight of it?
10 Nobody is fierce enough to rouse him; who then can stand before me?
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No one is so fierce as to dare to stir it up. Who can stand before it?
11 Who opposes me that I must repay? Everything under heaven is mine.
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Who can confront it and be safe? —under the whole heaven, who?
12 I'm not awed by his limbs, his strength, and impressive form.
12
"I will not keep silence concerning its limbs, or its mighty strength, or its splendid frame.
13 Who can remove his outer garment; who can come with a bridle for him?
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Who can strip off its outer garment? Who can penetrate its double coat of mail?
14 Who can open the doors of his mouth, surrounded by frightening teeth?
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Who can open the doors of its face? There is terror all around its teeth.
15 His matching scales are his pride, closely locked and sealed.
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Its back is made of shields in rows, shut up closely as with a seal.
16 One touches another; even air can't come between them.
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One is so near to another that no air can come between them.
17 Each clings to its pair; joined, they can't be separated.
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They are joined one to another; they clasp each other and cannot be separated.
18 His sneezes emit flashes of light; his eyes are like dawn's rays.
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Its sneezes flash forth light, and its eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.
19 Shafts of fire shoot from his mouth; like fiery sparks they fly out.
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From its mouth go flaming torches; sparks of fire leap out.
20 Smoke pours from his nostrils like a boiling pot over reeds.
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Out of its nostrils comes smoke, as from a boiling pot and burning rushes.
21 His breath lights coals; a flame shoots from his mouth.
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Its breath kindles coals, and a flame comes out of its mouth.
22 Power resides in his neck; violence dances before him.
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In its neck abides strength, and terror dances before it.
23 The folds of his flesh stick together; on him they are tough and unyielding.
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The folds of its flesh cling together; it is firmly cast and immovable.
24 His heart is solid like a rock, hard like a lower millstone.
24
Its heart is as hard as stone, as hard as the lower millstone.
25 The divine beings dread his rising; they withdraw before his thrashing.
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When it raises itself up the gods are afraid; at the crashing they are beside themselves.
26 The sword that touches him won't prevail; neither will the dart, spear, nor javelin.
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Though the sword reaches it, it does not avail, nor does the spear, the dart, or the javelin.
27 He treats iron as straw, bronze as rotten wood.
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It counts iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood.
28 Arrows can't make him flee; slingstones he turns to straw.
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The arrow cannot make it flee; slingstones, for it, are turned to chaff.
29 He treats a club like straw; he laughs at the lance's rattle.
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Clubs are counted as chaff; it laughs at the rattle of javelins.
30 His abdomen is like jagged pottery shards; its sharp edges leave a trail in the mud.
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Its underparts are like sharp potsherds; it spreads itself like a threshing sledge on the mire.
31 He causes the depths to churn like a boiling pot, stirs up the sea like a pot of scented oils,
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It makes the deep boil like a pot; it makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
32 leaves a bright wake behind him; the frothy deep seems white-haired.
32
It leaves a shining wake behind it; one would think the deep to be white-haired.
33 None on earth can compare to him; he is made to be without fear.
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On earth it has no equal, a creature without fear.
34 He looks on all the proud; he is king over all proud beasts.
34
It surveys everything that is lofty; it is king over all that are proud."
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.