English Standard Version ESV
The Message Bible MSG
1 "Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook or press down his tongue with a cord?
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Or can you pull in the sea beast, Leviathan, with a fly rod and stuff him in your creel?
2 Can you put a rope in his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?
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Can you lasso him with a rope, or snag him with an anchor?
3 Will he make many pleas to you? Will he speak to you soft words?
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Will he beg you over and over for mercy, or flatter you with flowery speech?
4 Will he make a covenant with you to take him for your servant forever?
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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 with a bird, or will you put him on a leash for your girls?
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Will you play with him as if he were a pet goldfish? Will you make him the mascot of the neighborhood children?
6 Will traders bargain over him? Will they divide him up among the merchants?
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Will you put him on display in the market and have shoppers haggle over the price?
7 Can you fill his skin with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?
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Could you shoot him full of arrows like a pin cushion, or drive harpoons into his huge head?
8 Lay your hands on him; remember the battle--you will not do it again!
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If you so much as lay a hand on him, you won't live to tell the story.
9 Behold, the hope of a man is false; he is laid low even at the sight of him.
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What hope would you have with such a creature? Why, one look at him would do you in!
10 No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up. Who then is he who can stand before me?
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If you can't hold your own against his glowering visage, how, then, do you expect to stand up to me?
11 Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.
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Who could confront me and get by with it? I'm in charge of all this - I run this universe!
12 "I will not keep silence concerning his limbs, or his mighty strength, or his goodly frame.
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"But I've more to say about Leviathan, the sea beast, his enormous bulk, his beautiful shape.
13 Who can strip off his outer garment? Who would come near him with a bridle?
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Who would even dream of piercing that tough skin or putting those jaws into bit and bridle?
14 Who can open the doors of his face? Around his teeth is terror.
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And who would dare knock at the door of his mouth filled with row upon row of fierce teeth?
15 His back is made of rows of shields, shut up closely as with a seal.
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His pride is invincible; nothing can make a dent in that pride.
16 One is so near to another that no air can come between them.
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Nothing can get through that proud skin - impervious to weapons and weather,
17 They are joined one to another; they clasp each other and cannot be separated.
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The thickest and toughest of hides, impenetrable!
18 His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.
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"He snorts and the world lights up with fire, he blinks and the dawn breaks.
19 Out of his mouth go flaming torches; sparks of fire leap forth.
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Comets pour out of his mouth, fireworks arc and branch.
20 Out of his nostrils comes forth smoke, as from a boiling pot and burning rushes.
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Smoke erupts from his nostrils like steam from a boiling pot.
21 His breath kindles coals, and a flame comes forth from his mouth.
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He blows and fires blaze; flames of fire stream from his mouth.
22 In his neck abides strength, and terror dances before him.
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All muscle he is - sheer and seamless muscle. To meet him is to dance with death.
23 The folds of his flesh stick together, firmly cast on him and immovable.
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Sinewy and lithe, there's not a soft spot in his entire body -
24 His heart is hard as a stone, hard as the lower millstone.
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As tough inside as out, rock-hard, invulnerable.
25 When he raises himself up the mighty are afraid; at the crashing they are beside themselves.
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Even angels run for cover when he surfaces, cowering before his tail-thrashing turbulence.
26 Though the sword reaches him, it does not avail, nor the spear, the dart, or the javelin.
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Javelins bounce harmlessly off his hide, harpoons ricochet wildly.
27 He counts iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood.
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Iron bars are so much straw to him, bronze weapons beneath notice.
28 The arrow cannot make him flee; for him sling stones are turned to stubble.
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Arrows don't even make him blink; bullets make no more impression than raindrops.
29 Clubs are counted as stubble; he laughs at the rattle of javelins.
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A battle ax is nothing but a splinter of kindling; he treats a brandished harpoon as a joke.
30 His underparts are like sharp potsherds; he spreads himself like a threshing sledge on the mire.
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His belly is armor-plated, inexorable - unstoppable as a barge.
31 He makes the deep boil like a pot; he makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
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He roils deep ocean the way you'd boil water, he whips the sea like you'd whip an egg into batter.
32 Behind him he leaves a shining wake; one would think the deep to be white-haired.
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With a luminous trail stretching out behind him, you might think Ocean had grown a gray beard!
33 On earth there is not his like, a creature without fear.
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There's nothing on this earth quite like him, not an ounce of fear in that creature!
34 He sees everything that is high; he is king over all the sons of pride."
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He surveys all the high and mighty - king of the ocean, king of the deep!"
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
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.