New International Version NIV
Young's Literal Translation YLT
1 “Can you pull in Leviathan with a fishhook or tie down its tongue with a rope?
1
Dost thou draw leviathan with an angle? And with a rope thou lettest down -- his tongue?
2 Can you put a cord through its nose or pierce its jaw with a hook?
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Dost thou put a reed in his nose? And with a thorn pierce his jaw?
3 Will it keep begging you for mercy? Will it speak to you with gentle words?
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Doth he multiply unto thee supplications? Doth he speak unto thee tender things?
4 Will it make an agreement with you for you to take it as your slave for life?
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Doth he make a covenant with thee? Dost thou take him for a servant age-during?
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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Dost thou play with him as a bird? And dost thou bind him for thy damsels?
6 Will traders barter for it? Will they divide it up among the merchants?
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(Feast upon him do companions, They divide him among the merchants!)
7 Can you fill its hide with harpoons or its head with fishing spears?
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Dost thou fill with barbed irons his skin? And with fish-spears his head?
8 If you lay a hand on it, you will remember the struggle and never do it again!
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Place on him thy hand, Remember the battle -- do not add!
9 Any hope of subduing it is false; the mere sight of it is overpowering.
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Lo, the hope of him is found a liar, Also at his appearance is not one cast down?
10 No one is fierce enough to rouse it. Who then is able to stand against me?
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None so fierce that he doth awake him, And who [is] he before Me stationeth himself?
11 Who has a claim against me that I must pay? Everything under heaven belongs to me.
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Who hath brought before Me and I repay? Under the whole heavens it [is] mine.
12 “I will not fail to speak of Leviathan’s limbs, its strength and its graceful form.
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I do not keep silent concerning his parts, And the matter of might, And the grace of his arrangement.
13 Who can strip off its outer coat? Who can penetrate its double coat of armor ?
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Who hath uncovered the face of his clothing? Within his double bridle who doth enter?
14 Who dares open the doors of its mouth, ringed about with fearsome teeth?
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The doors of his face who hath opened? Round about his teeth [are] terrible.
15 Its back has rows of shields tightly sealed together;
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A pride -- strong ones of shields, Shut up -- a close seal.
16 each is so close to the next that no air can pass between.
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One unto another they draw nigh, And air doth not enter between them.
17 They are joined fast to one another; they cling together and cannot be parted.
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One unto another they adhere, They stick together and are not separated.
18 Its snorting throws out flashes of light; its eyes are like the rays of dawn.
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His sneezings cause light to shine, And his eyes [are] as the eyelids of the dawn.
19 Flames stream from its mouth; sparks of fire shoot out.
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Out of his mouth do flames go, sparks of fire escape.
20 Smoke pours from its nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.
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Out of his nostrils goeth forth smoke, As a blown pot and reeds.
21 Its breath sets coals ablaze, and flames dart from its mouth.
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His breath setteth coals on fire, And a flame from his mouth goeth forth.
22 Strength resides in its neck; dismay goes before it.
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In his neck lodge doth strength, And before him doth grief exult.
23 The folds of its flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable.
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The flakes of his flesh have adhered -- Firm upon him -- it is not moved.
24 Its chest is hard as rock, hard as a lower millstone.
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His heart [is] firm as a stone, Yea, firm as the lower piece.
25 When it rises up, the mighty are terrified; they retreat before its thrashing.
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From his rising are the mighty afraid, From breakings they keep themselves free.
26 The sword that reaches it has no effect, nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin.
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The sword of his overtaker standeth not, Spear -- dart -- and lance.
27 Iron it treats like straw and bronze like rotten wood.
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He reckoneth iron as straw, brass as rotten wood.
28 Arrows do not make it flee; slingstones are like chaff to it.
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The son of the bow doth not cause him to flee, Turned by him into stubble are stones of the sling.
29 A club seems to it but a piece of straw; it laughs at the rattling of the lance.
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As stubble have darts been reckoned, And he laugheth at the shaking of a javelin.
30 Its undersides are jagged potsherds, leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.
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Under him [are] sharp points of clay, He spreadeth gold 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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He causeth to boil as a pot the deep, The sea he maketh as a pot of ointment.
32 It leaves a glistening wake behind it; one would think the deep had white hair.
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After him he causeth a path to shine, One thinketh the deep to be hoary.
33 Nothing on earth is its equal— a creature without fear.
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There is not on the earth his like, That is made without terror.
34 It looks down on all that are haughty; it is king over all that are proud.”
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Every high thing he doth see, He [is] king over all 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.
Young's Literal Translation is in the public domain.