The LORD’s Challenge Continues

1a“Can you catch Leviathanb with a hook

or put a noose around its jaw?

2Can you tie it with a rope through the nose

or pierce its jaw with a spike?

3Will it beg you for mercy

or implore you for pity?

4Will it agree to work for you,

to be your slave for life?

5Can you make it a pet like a bird,

or give it to your little girls to play with?

6Will merchants try to buy it

to sell it in their shops?

7Will its hide be hurt by spears

or its head by a harpoon?

8If you lay a hand on it,

you will certainly remember the battle that follows.

You won’t try that again!

9cNo, it is useless to try to capture it.

The hunter who attempts it will be knocked down.

10And since no one dares to disturb it,

who then can stand up to me?

11Who has given me anything that I need to pay back?

Everything under heaven is mine.

12“I want to emphasize Leviathan’s limbs

and its enormous strength and graceful form.

13Who can strip off its hide,

and who can penetrate its double layer of armor?d

14Who could pry open its jaws?

For its teeth are terrible!

15The scales on its back are likee rows of shields

tightly sealed together.

16They are so close together

that no air can get between them.

17Each scale sticks tight to the next.

They interlock and cannot be penetrated.

18“When it sneezes, it flashes light!

Its eyes are like the red of dawn.

19Lightning leaps from its mouth;

flames of fire flash out.

20Smoke streams from its nostrils

like steam from a pot heated over burning rushes.

21Its breath would kindle coals,

for flames shoot from its mouth.

22“The tremendous strength in Leviathan’s neck

strikes terror wherever it goes.

23Its flesh is hard and firm

and cannot be penetrated.

24Its heart is hard as rock,

hard as a millstone.

25When it rises, the mighty are afraid,

gripped by terror.

26No sword can stop it,

no spear, dart, or javelin.

27Iron is nothing but straw to that creature,

and bronze is like rotten wood.

28Arrows cannot make it flee.

Stones shot from a sling are like bits of grass.

29Clubs are like a blade of grass,

and it laughs at the swish of javelins.

30Its belly is covered with scales as sharp as glass.

It plows up the ground as it drags through the mud.

31“Leviathan makes the water boil with its commotion.

It stirs the depths like a pot of ointment.

32The water glistens in its wake,

making the sea look white.

33Nothing on earth is its equal,

no other creature so fearless.

34Of all the creatures, it is the proudest.

It is the king of beasts.”