International Standard Version

English Standard Version

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

1“Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook or press down his tongue with a cord?

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

2Can you put a rope in 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 make many pleas to you? Will he speak to you soft words?

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 to take him for your servant forever?

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

5Will you play with him as with a bird, or will you 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 over him? Will they divide him up among the merchants?

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

7Can you fill his skin 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 your hands on him; remember the battle—you will not do it again!

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

9Behold, the hope of a man is false; he is laid low even at the 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 so fierce that he dares to stir him up. Who then is he who can stand before me?

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

11Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Whatever is under the whole heaven is mine.

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

12“I will not keep silence concerning his limbs, or his mighty strength, or his goodly frame.

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

13Who can strip off his outer garment? Who would come near him with a bridle?

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

14Who can open the doors of his face? Around his teeth is terror.

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

15His back is made of rows of shields, shut up closely as with a seal.

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

16One is so near to another that no air can come between them.

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

17They are joined one to another; they clasp each other and cannot be separated.

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

18His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.

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

19Out of his mouth go flaming torches; sparks of fire leap forth.

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

20Out of his nostrils comes forth smoke, as from a boiling pot and burning rushes.

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

21His breath kindles coals, and a flame comes forth from his mouth.

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

22In his neck abides strength, and terror 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 stick together, firmly cast on him and immovable.

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

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

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

25When he raises himself up, the mighty are afraid; at the crashing they are beside themselves.

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

26Though the sword reaches him, it does not avail, nor the spear, the dart, or the javelin.

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

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

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

28The arrow cannot make him flee; for him, sling stones are turned to stubble.

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

29Clubs are counted as stubble; he laughs at the rattle of javelins.

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

30His underparts are like sharp potsherds; he spreads himself like a threshing sledge on the mire.

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

31He makes the deep boil like a pot; he makes the sea like a pot of ointment.

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

32Behind him he leaves a shining wake; one would think the deep to be white-haired.

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

33On earth there is not his like, a creature without fear.

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

34He sees everything that is high; he is king over all the sons of pride.”

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

ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.