Job 41; Job 42

1 Can you catch Leviathan with a fishhook or tie his tongue down with a rope?

2 Can you put a rope through his snout or put a hook through his jaws?

3 Will he beg you to let him go? Will he plead with you for mercy?

4 Will he make an agreement with you and promise to serve you forever?

5 Will you tie him like a pet bird, like something to amuse your servant women?

6 Will fishermen bargain over him? Will merchants cut him up to sell?

7 Can you fill his hide with fishing spears or pierce his head with a harpoon?

8 Touch him once and you'll never try it again; you'll never forget the fight!

9 Anyone who sees Leviathan loses courage and falls to the ground.

10 When he is aroused, he is fierce; no one would dare to stand before him.

11 Who can attack him and still be safe? No one in all the world can do it.

12 Let me tell you about Leviathan's legs and describe how great and strong he is.

13 No one can tear off his outer coat or pierce the armor he wears.

14 Who can make him open his jaws, ringed with those terrifying teeth?

15 His back is made of rows of shields, fastened together and hard as stone.

16 Each one is joined so tight to the next, not even a breath can come between.

17 They all are fastened so firmly together that nothing can ever pull them apart.

18 Light flashes when he sneezes, and his eyes glow like the rising sun.

19 Flames blaze from his mouth, and streams of sparks fly out.

20 Smoke comes pouring out of his nose, like smoke from weeds burning under a pot.

21 His breath starts fires burning; flames leap out of his mouth.

22 His neck is so powerful that all who meet him are terrified.

23 There is not a weak spot in his skin; it is as hard and unyielding as iron.

24 His stony heart is without fear, as unyielding and hard as a millstone.

25 When he rises up, even the strongest are frightened; they are helpless with fear.

26 There is no sword that can wound him; no spear or arrow or lance that can harm him.

27 For him iron is as flimsy as straw, and bronze as soft as rotten wood.

28 There is no arrow that can make him run; rocks thrown at him are like bits of straw.

29 To him a club is a piece of straw, and he laughs when men throw spears.

30 The scales on his belly are like jagged pieces of pottery; they tear up the muddy ground like a threshing sledge.

31 He churns up the sea like boiling water and makes it bubble like a pot of oil.

32 He leaves a shining path behind him and turns the sea to white foam.

33 There is nothing on earth to compare with him; he is a creature that has no fear.

34 He looks down on even the proudest animals; he is king of all wild beasts.

1 Then Job answered the Lord.

2 I know, Lord, that you are all-powerful; that you can do everything you want.

3 You ask how I dare question your wisdom when I am so very ignorant. I talked about things I did not understand, about marvels too great for me to know.

4 You told me to listen while you spoke and to try to answer your questions.

5 In the past I knew only what others had told me, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.

6 So I am ashamed of all I have said and repent in dust and ashes.

7 After the Lord had finished speaking to Job, he said to Eliphaz, "I am angry with you and your two friends, because you did not speak the truth about me, the way my servant Job did.

8 Now take seven bulls and seven rams to Job and offer them as a sacrifice for yourselves. Job will pray for you, and I will answer his prayer and not disgrace you the way you deserve. You did not speak the truth about me as he did."

9 Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar did what the Lord had told them to do, and the Lord answered Job's prayer.

10 Then, after Job had prayed for his three friends, the Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had had before.

11 All Job's brothers and sisters and former friends came to visit him and feasted with him in his house. They expressed their sympathy and comforted him for all the troubles the Lord had brought on him. Each of them gave him some money and a gold ring.

12 The Lord blessed the last part of Job's life even more than he had blessed the first. Job owned fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, two thousand head of cattle, and one thousand donkeys.

13 He was the father of seven sons and three daughters.

14 He called the oldest daughter Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the youngest Keren Happuch.

15 There were no other women in the whole world as beautiful as Job's daughters. Their father gave them a share of the inheritance along with their brothers.

16 Job lived a hundred and forty years after this, long enough to see his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

17 And then he died at a very great age.