Job
Chapter 41
2
1 Is he not relentless when aroused; who then dares stand before him?
1
Whoever might vainly hope to do so need only see him to be overthrown.
3
Who has assailed him and come off safe-- Who under all the heavens?
4
I need hardly mention his limbs, his strength, and the fitness of his armor.
5
Who can strip off his outer garment, or penetrate his double corselet?
6
Who can force open the doors of his mouth, close to his terrible teeth?
7
Rows of scales are on his back, tightly sealed together;
8
They are fitted each so close to the next that no space intervenes;
9
So joined one to another that they hold fast and cannot be parted.
10
When he sneezes, light flashes forth; his eyes are like those of the dawn.
11
Out of his mouth go forth firebrands; sparks of fire leap forth.
12
From his nostrils issues steam, as from a seething pot or bowl.
13
His breath sets coals afire; a flame pours from his mouth.
14
Strength abides in his neck, and terror leaps before him.
16
His heart is hard as stone; his flesh, as the lower millstone.
17
2 When he rises up, the mighty are afraid; the waves of the sea fall back.
18
Should the sword reach him, it will not avail; nor will the spear, nor the dart, nor the javelin.
19
He regards iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood.
20
The arrow will not put him to flight; slingstones used against him are but straws.
21
Clubs he esteems as splinters; he laughs at the crash of the spear.
22
His belly is sharp as pottery fragments; he spreads like a threshing sledge upon the mire.
23
He makes the depths boil like a pot; the sea he churns like perfume in a kettle.
24
Behind him he leaves a shining path; you would think the deep had the hoary head of age.
25
Upon the earth there is not his like, intrepid he was made.
26
All, however lofty, fear him; he is king over all proud beasts.
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Footnotes

1 [2] Before him; some read, "before me," i.e., God; also in Job 41:3.

2 [17] The text here is uncertain.


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