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World English Bible WEB
1 “Can you pull in Leviathan with a fishhook or tie down its tongue with a rope?
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"Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook? Or press down his 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 into his nose? Or pierce his jaw through with a hook?
3 Will it keep begging you for mercy? Will it speak to you with gentle words?
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Will he make many petitions to you? Or will he 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 he make a covenant with you, That you should take him for a 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 him as with a bird? Or will you bind him for your girls?
6 Will traders barter for it? Will they divide it up among the merchants?
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Will traders barter for him? Will they part him among the merchants?
7 Can you fill its hide with harpoons or its head with fishing spears?
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Can you fill his skin with barbed irons, Or his head with fish-spears?
8 If you lay a hand on it, you will remember the struggle and never do it again!
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Lay your hand on him. Remember the battle, and do so no more.
9 Any hope of subduing it is false; the mere sight of it is overpowering.
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Behold, the hope of him is in vain. Will not one be cast down even at the sight of him?
10 No one is fierce enough to rouse it. Who then is able to stand against me?
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None is so fierce that he dare stir him up. Who then is he who can stand before me?
11 Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me.
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Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Everything under the heavens is mine.
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 his limbs, Nor his mighty strength, nor his goodly 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 his outer garment? Who shall come within his jaws?
14 Who dares open the doors of its mouth, ringed about with fearsome teeth?
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Who can open the doors of his face? Around his teeth is terror.
15 Its back has rows of shields tightly sealed together;
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Strong scales are his pride, Shut up together with a close 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 stick together, so that they can't be pulled apart.
18 Its snorting throws out flashes of light; its eyes are like the rays of dawn.
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His sneezing flashes forth light, His eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
19 Flames stream from its mouth; sparks of fire shoot out.
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Out of his mouth go burning torches, Sparks of fire leap forth.
20 Smoke pours from its nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.
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Out of his nostrils a smoke goes, As of a boiling pot over a fire of reeds.
21 Its breath sets coals ablaze, and flames dart from its mouth.
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His breath kindles coals. A flame goes forth from his mouth.
22 Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it.
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In his neck there is strength. Terror dances before him.
23 The folds of its flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable.
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The flakes of his flesh are joined together. They are firm on him. They can't be moved.
24 Its chest is hard as rock, hard as a lower millstone.
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His heart is as firm as a stone, Yes, firm as the lower millstone.
25 When it rises up, the mighty are terrified; they retreat before its thrashing.
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When he raises himself up, the mighty are afraid. They retreat before his thrashing.
26 The sword that reaches it has no effect, nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin.
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If one lay at him with the sword, it can't avail; Nor the spear, the dart, nor the pointed shaft.
27 Iron it treats like straw and bronze like rotten wood.
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He counts iron as straw; And brass as rotten wood.
28 Arrows do not make it flee; slingstones are like chaff to it.
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The arrow can't make him flee. Sling stones are like chaff to him.
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 stubble. He laughs at the rushing of the javelin.
30 Its undersides are jagged potsherds, leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.
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His undersides are like sharp potsherds, Leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.
31 It makes the depths churn like a boiling caldron and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment.
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He makes the deep to boil like a pot. He 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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He makes a path to shine after him. One would think the deep had white hair.
33 Nothing on earth is its equal— a creature without fear.
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On earth there is not his equal, That is made without fear.
34 It looks down on all that are haughty; it is king over all that are proud.”
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He sees everything that is high: He is king over all the sons of pride."
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.
The World English Bible is in the public domain.