New International Version NIV
New Revised Standard NRS
1 “Can you pull in Leviathan with a fishhook or tie down its 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 its nose or pierce its jaw with a hook?
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Can you put a rope in its nose, or pierce its jaw with a hook?
3 Will it keep begging you for mercy? Will it speak to you with gentle words?
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Will it make many supplications to you? Will it speak soft words to you?
4 Will it make an agreement with you for you to take it as your slave for life?
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Will it make a covenant with you to be taken as your servant forever?
5 Can you make a pet of it like a bird or put it on a leash for the young women in your house?
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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 traders barter for it? Will they divide it up among the merchants?
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Will traders bargain over it? Will they divide it up among the merchants?
7 Can you fill its hide with harpoons or its head with fishing spears?
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Can you fill its skin with harpoons, or its head with fishing spears?
8 If you lay a hand on it, you will remember the struggle and never do it again!
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Lay hands on it; think of the battle; you will not do it again!
9 Any hope of subduing it is false; the mere sight of it is overpowering.
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Any hope of capturing it will be disappointed; were not even the gods overwhelmed at the sight of it?
10 No one is fierce enough to rouse it. Who then is able to stand against me?
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No one is so fierce as to dare to stir it up. Who can stand before it?
11 Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me.
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Who can confront it and be safe? —under the whole heaven, who?
12 “I will not fail to speak of Leviathan’s limbs, its strength and its graceful form.
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"I will not keep silence concerning its limbs, or its mighty strength, or its splendid frame.
13 Who can strip off its outer coat? Who can penetrate its double coat of armor ?
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Who can strip off its outer garment? Who can penetrate its double coat of mail?
14 Who dares open the doors of its mouth, ringed about with fearsome teeth?
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Who can open the doors of its face? There is terror all around its teeth.
15 Its back has rows of shields tightly sealed together;
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Its back is made of shields in rows, shut up closely as with a seal.
16 each is so close to the next that no air can pass between.
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One is so near to another that no air can come between them.
17 They are joined fast to one another; they cling together and cannot be parted.
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They are joined one to another; they clasp each other and cannot be separated.
18 Its snorting throws out flashes of light; its eyes are like the rays of dawn.
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Its sneezes flash forth light, and its eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.
19 Flames stream from its mouth; sparks of fire shoot out.
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From its mouth go flaming torches; sparks of fire leap out.
20 Smoke pours from its nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.
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Out of its nostrils comes smoke, as from a boiling pot and burning rushes.
21 Its breath sets coals ablaze, and flames dart from its mouth.
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Its breath kindles coals, and a flame comes out of its mouth.
22 Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it.
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In its neck abides strength, and terror dances before it.
23 The folds of its flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable.
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The folds of its flesh cling together; it is firmly cast and immovable.
24 Its chest is hard as rock, hard as a lower millstone.
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Its heart is as hard as stone, as hard as the lower millstone.
25 When it rises up, the mighty are terrified; they retreat before its 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 reaches it has no effect, nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin.
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Though the sword reaches it, it does not avail, nor does the spear, the dart, or the javelin.
27 Iron it treats like straw and bronze like rotten wood.
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It counts iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood.
28 Arrows do not make it flee; slingstones are like chaff to it.
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The arrow cannot make it flee; slingstones, for it, are turned to chaff.
29 A club seems to it but a piece of straw; it laughs at the rattling of the lance.
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Clubs are counted as chaff; it laughs at the rattle of javelins.
30 Its undersides are jagged potsherds, leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.
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Its underparts are like sharp potsherds; it spreads itself like a threshing sledge on the mire.
31 It makes the depths churn like a boiling caldron and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment.
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It makes the deep boil like a pot; it makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
32 It leaves a glistening wake behind it; one would think the deep had white hair.
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It leaves a shining wake behind it; one would think the deep to be white-haired.
33 Nothing on earth is its equal— a creature without fear.
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On earth it has no equal, a creature without fear.
34 It looks down on all that are haughty; it is king over all that are proud.”
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It surveys everything that is lofty; it is king over all that are proud."
Scripture quoted by permission. Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®. NIV®. Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica. All rights reserved worldwide.
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.