Job 41

No one can stand before Leviathan

¹Any hope of overpowering it is false; \q the mere sight of it lays a person low.^{a 2}No one is fierce enough to stir it up; \q who then can stand up to me?^{b 3}Who has first given to me, that I should pay them back? \q Everything under the whole heaven is mine.^{c 4}I will not keep silent about its limbs, \q its mighty strength and its fine build.^{d 5}Who can strip off its outer coat? \q Who can come at it with a double bridle?^{e 6}Who can pry open the doors of its face? \q Its teeth all around are a terror. ⁷Its pride is its rows of shields, \q shut together as with a tight seal.^{f 8}Each one is so close to the next \q that no air can pass between them. ⁹They are joined one to another; \q they cling together and cannot be pulled apart. ¹⁰Its snorting makes light flash out, \q and its eyes are like the first rays of dawn. ¹¹Flaming torches pour from its mouth; \q sparks of fire shoot out. ¹²Smoke pours from its nostrils \q as from a pot fanned to a boil over burning reeds. ¹³Its breath sets coals on fire, \q and flames dart from its mouth. ¹⁴Strength makes its home in its neck, \q and terror dances before it. ¹⁵The folds of its flesh are tightly joined; \q they are set firm on it and do not move. ¹⁶Its heart is as hard as rock, \q as hard as a lower millstone. ¹⁷When it raises itself up, the mighty are afraid; \q at its crashing they are thrown into confusion.^{g 18}A sword that reaches it has no effect, \q nor does a spear, a dart, or a javelin. ¹⁹It treats iron like straw \q and bronze like rotten wood. ²⁰Arrows do not make it run away; \q sling stones are like chaff to it. ²¹A club seems like chaff to it, \q and it laughs at the rattle of a javelin. ²²Its underside is like jagged pieces of pottery; \q it leaves a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge. ²³It makes the depths churn like a boiling pot; \q it stirs up the sea like a pot of perfumed oil. ²⁴It leaves a shining wake behind it; \q one would think the deep had white hair. ²⁵Nothing on earth is its equal, \q a creature made without fear. ²⁶It looks down on everything that is lofty; \q it is king over all the proud beasts.