International Standard Version

Christian Standard Bible

1 "Can you draw Leviathan out of the water with a hook, or tie down his tongue with a rope?

1Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook or tie his tongue down with a rope?

2Can you attach a bridle to his snout, or pierce his jaw with a hook?

2Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?

3Will he make many supplications to you, or will he beg you for mercy?

3Will he beg you for mercy or speak softly to you?

4Will he try to make a deal with you, so that you may take him in servitude forever?

4Will he make a covenant with you so that you can take him as a slave forever?

5"Will you play with him like a pet bird? Will you put a leash on him for your little girls?

5Can you play with him like a bird or put him on a leash for your girls?

6Will your business be able to buy him, Will you divide him among your merchant friends?

6Will traders bargain for him or divide him among the merchants?

7Will you fill his flesh with harpoons, or his head with lances?

7Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears?

8Lay your hand on him, and you'll remember the struggle. You'll never do that again!

8Lay a hand on him. You will remember the battle and never repeat it!

9"Look! Anyone's hope to capture him will prove itself false; anyone would be terrified just by looking at him.

9Any hope of capturing him proves false. Does a person not collapse at the very sight of him?

10No one is fierce enough to dare to arouse him. "Who, then, can stand in my presence and face me?

10No one is ferocious enough to rouse Leviathan; who then can stand against me?

11Who can take me to court and be reconciled to me? All of heaven is mine.

11Who confronted me, that I should repay him? Everything under heaven belongs to me.

12"I won't be silent concerning his limbs, his mighty strength, and orderly frame.

12I cannot be silent about his limbs, his power, and his graceful proportions.

13Who can strip off his outer armor? Who can approach him with a bridle?

13Who can strip off his outer covering? Who can penetrate his double layer of armor?

14Who dares to open his mouth, since it is ringed with his terrible teeth!

14Who can open his jaws, surrounded by those terrifying teeth?

15His protective scales are his pride, they lie sealed tightly together.

15His pride is in his rows of scales, closely sealed together.

16Each one is so close to the other that not even air comes in between them.

16One scale is so close to another that no air can pass between them.

17Each is attached to the other, grasping each other so they cannot be separated.

17They are joined to one another, so closely connected they cannot be separated.

18"His snorting releases flashes of light; his eyes are like the rays of the dawn.

18His snorting flashes with light, while his eyes are like the rays of dawn.

19Flames blaze from his mouth; streams of sparking fire fly out.

19Flaming torches shoot from his mouth; fiery sparks fly out!

20Smoke billows from his nostrils; like a boiling pot or burning reeds.

20Smoke billows from his nostrils as from a boiling pot or burning reeds.

21His breath can ignite coal; and flames proceed from his mouth.

21His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames pour out of his mouth.

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

22Strength resides in his neck, and dismay dances before him.

23There is no flaw in his body's armor; it is firmly fixed on him and unbreachable.

23The folds of his flesh are joined together, solid as metal and immovable.

24His heart is as strong as stone, it is as hard as a lower millstone.

24His heart is as hard as a rock, as hard as a lower millstone!

25When he rears up, the mighty are terrified; they are bewildered as he thrashes about.

25When Leviathan rises, the mighty are terrified; they withdraw because of his thrashing.

26"Thrusting at him with a sword won't be effective, nor will spears, darts, or javelins.

26The sword that reaches him will have no effect, nor will a spear, dart, or arrow.

27He regards iron like straw, and hardened bronze like a dead tree.

27He regards iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood.

28Arrows won't make him flee; stones from a sling are only pebbles to him.

28No arrow can make him flee; slingstones become like stubble to him.

29Clubs are like twigs; he laughs at the whoosh of the javelin.

29A club is regarded as stubble, and he laughs at the sound of a javelin.

30"Beneath him he is armored as with sharp potsherds; he tears through muddy ground like a threshing sledge through grain.

30His undersides are jagged potsherds, spreading the mud like a threshing sledge.

31He causes the deep to boil like water in a pot, and churns the sea like one stirs ointment.

31He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron; he makes the sea like an ointment jar.

32The sea is luminescent behind him; his wake turns the sea white, like those with gray hair.

32He leaves a shining wake behind him; one would think the deep had gray hair!

33"There's nothing like him on earth; he was created without the ability to fear.

33He has no equal on earth--a creature devoid of fear!

34He looks down on everything that is high; he rules over every kind of pride."

34He surveys everything that is haughty; he is king over all the proud beasts.

The Holy Bible: International Standard Version® Release 2.1 Copyright © 1996-2012 The ISV Foundation ALL RIGHTS RESERVED INTERNATIONALLY.

The Christian Standard Bible. Copyright © 2017 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.