New Revised Standard NRS
The Message Bible MSG
1 "Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook, or press down its tongue with a cord?
1
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 its nose, or pierce its jaw with a hook?
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Can you lasso him with a rope, or snag him with an anchor?
3 Will it make many supplications to you? Will it speak soft words to you?
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Will he beg you over and over for mercy, or flatter you with flowery speech?
4 Will it make a covenant with you to be taken as 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 it as with a bird, or will you put it on 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 it? Will they divide it 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 its skin with harpoons, or its 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 hands on it; think of 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 Any hope of capturing it will be disappointed; were not even the gods overwhelmed at the sight of it?
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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 as to dare to stir it up. Who can stand before it?
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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 can confront it and be safe? —under the whole heaven, who?
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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 its limbs, or its mighty strength, or its splendid 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 its outer garment? Who can penetrate its double coat of mail?
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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 its face? There is terror all around its teeth.
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And who would dare knock at the door of his mouth filled with row upon row of fierce teeth?
15 Its back is made of shields in rows, 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 Its sneezes flash forth light, and its 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 From its mouth go flaming torches; sparks of fire leap out.
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Comets pour out of his mouth, fireworks arc and branch.
20 Out of its nostrils comes 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 Its breath kindles coals, and a flame comes out of its mouth.
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He blows and fires blaze; flames of fire stream from his mouth.
22 In its neck abides strength, and terror dances before it.
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All muscle he is - sheer and seamless muscle. To meet him is to dance with death.
23 The folds of its flesh cling together; it is firmly cast and immovable.
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Sinewy and lithe, there's not a soft spot in his entire body -
24 Its heart is as hard as stone, as hard as the lower millstone.
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As tough inside as out, rock-hard, invulnerable.
25 When it raises itself up the gods 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 it, it does not avail, nor does the spear, the dart, or the javelin.
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Javelins bounce harmlessly off his hide, harpoons ricochet wildly.
27 It 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 it flee; slingstones, for it, are turned to chaff.
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Arrows don't even make him blink; bullets make no more impression than raindrops.
29 Clubs are counted as chaff; it 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 Its underparts are like sharp potsherds; it spreads itself like a threshing sledge on the mire.
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His belly is armor-plated, inexorable - unstoppable as a barge.
31 It makes the deep boil like a pot; it 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 It leaves a shining wake behind it; 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 it has no equal, 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 It surveys everything that is lofty; it is king over all that are proud."
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He surveys all the high and mighty - king of the ocean, king of the deep!"
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.
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.