New Living Translation

Holman Christian Standard Bible

1 “Can you catch Leviathan with a hook or put a noose around its jaw?

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

2Can you tie it with a rope through the nose or pierce its jaw with a spike?

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

3Will it beg you for mercy or implore you for pity?

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

4Will it agree to work for you, to be your slave for life?

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

5Can you make it a pet like a bird, or give it to your little girls to play with?

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

6Will merchants try to buy it to sell it in their shops?

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

7Will its hide be hurt by spears or its head by a harpoon?

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

8If you lay a hand on it, you will certainly remember the battle that follows. You won’t try that again!

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

9 No, it is useless to try to capture it. The hunter who attempts it will be knocked down.

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

10And since no one dares to disturb it, who then can stand up to me?

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

11Who has given me anything that I need to pay back? Everything under heaven is mine.

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

12“I want to emphasize Leviathan’s limbs and its enormous strength and graceful form.

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

13Who can strip off its hide, and who can penetrate its double layer of armor?

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

14Who could pry open its jaws? For its teeth are terrible!

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

15The scales on its back are like rows of shields tightly sealed together.

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

16They are so close together that no air can get between them.

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

17Each scale sticks tight to the next. They interlock and cannot be penetrated.

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

18“When it sneezes, it flashes light! Its eyes are like the red of dawn.

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

19Lightning leaps from its mouth; flames of fire flash out.

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

20Smoke streams from its nostrils like steam from a pot heated over burning rushes.

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

21Its breath would kindle coals, for flames shoot from its mouth.

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

22“The tremendous strength in Leviathan’s neck strikes terror wherever it goes.

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

23Its flesh is hard and firm and cannot be penetrated.

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

24Its heart is hard as rock, hard as a millstone.

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

25When it rises, the mighty are afraid, gripped by terror.

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

26No sword can stop it, no spear, dart, or javelin.

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

27Iron is nothing but straw to that creature, and bronze is like rotten wood.

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

28Arrows cannot make it flee. Stones shot from a sling are like bits of grass.

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

29Clubs are like a blade of grass, and it laughs at the swish of javelins.

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

30Its belly is covered with scales as sharp as glass. It plows up the ground as it drags through the mud.

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

31“Leviathan makes the water boil with its commotion. It stirs the depths like a pot of ointment.

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

32The water glistens in its wake, making the sea look white.

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

33Nothing on earth is its equal, no other creature so fearless.

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

34Of all the creatures, it is the proudest. It is the king of beasts.”

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

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Holman Christian Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers. Used by permission.