1“Job, can you pull Leviathan out of the sea with a fishhook?
Can you tie down its tongue with a rope?
2Can you put a rope through its nose?
Can you stick a hook through its jaw?
3Will it keep begging you for mercy?
Will it speak gently to you?
4Will it make an agreement with you?
Can you make it your slave for life?
5Can you make a pet out of it like a bird?
Can you put it on a leash for the young women in your house?
6Will traders offer you something for it?
Will they divide it up among the merchants?
7Can you fill its body with harpoons?
Can you throw fishing spears into its head?
8If you touch it, it will fight you.
Then you will remember never to touch it again!
9No one can possibly control Leviathan.
Just looking at it will terrify you.
10No one dares to wake it up.
So who can possibly stand up to me?
11Who has a claim against me that I must pay?
Everything on earth belongs to me.
12“Now I will speak about the Leviathan’s legs.
I will talk about its strength and its graceful body.
13Who can strip off its outer coat?
Who would try to pierce its double coat of armor?
14Who dares to open its jaws?
Its mouth is filled with terrifying teeth.
15Its back has rows of shields
that are close together.
16Each one is so close to the next one
that not even air can pass between them.
17They are joined tightly to one another.
They stick together and can’t be forced apart.
18Leviathan’s snorting throws out flashes of light.
Its eyes shine like the first light of day.
19Flames spray out of its mouth.
Sparks of fire shoot out.
20Smoke pours out of its nose.
It is like smoke from a boiling pot over burning grass.
21Its breath sets coals on fire.
Flames fly out of its mouth.
22Its neck is very strong.
People run to get out of its way.
23Its rolls of fat are close together.
They are firm and can’t be moved.
24Its chest is as hard as rock.
It is as hard as a lower millstone.
25When Leviathan rises up,
even mighty people are terrified.
They run away when it moves around wildly.
26A sword that strikes it has no effect.
Neither does a spear or dart or javelin.
27It treats iron as if it were straw.
It crushes bronze as if it were rotten wood.
28Arrows do not make it run away.
Stones that are thrown from slings are like straw hitting it.
29A club seems like a piece of straw to it.
It laughs when it hears a javelin rattling.
30Its undersides are like broken pieces of pottery.
It leaves a trail in the mud like a threshing sled.
31It makes the ocean churn like a boiling pot.
It stirs up the sea like perfume someone is making.
32It leaves a shiny trail behind it.
You would think the ocean had white hair.
33Nothing on earth is equal to Leviathan.
That creature is not afraid of anything.
34It looks down on proud people.
It rules over all those who are proud.”
1Det er håbløst at forsøge at fange den.
Synet af den er nok til, at modet forsvinder.
2Når ingen tør kæmpe mod dette mægtige dyr,
hvem tør da kæmpe imod mig?
3Hvem tør sige, at jeg skylder dem noget?
Alt i hele verden tilhører mig.
4Lad mig beskrive Livjatans krop.
Den er velformet med enorme lemmer og vældig styrke.
5Hvem kan flå huden af den
eller trænge ind under dens panser?
6Hvem kan åbne munden på den,
så man ser de frygtindgydende tænder?
7Ryggen er dækket af rækker af plader,
der beskytter den fuldstændigt som skjolde.
8Pladerne sidder så tæt,
at intet kan trænge ind imellem dem.
9De overlapper hinanden,
og det er umuligt at skille dem ad.
10Når den fnyser, er det som lysglimt,
øjnene gløder som en solopgang.
11Flammer står ud af munden på den,
et fyrværkeri af gnister.
12Damp kommer ud ad dens næsebor
som fra en kedel med kogende vand.
13Dens ånde får kul til at gløde,
fra gabet spruder den ild.
14Halsmusklerne er utroligt stærke,
den skaber rædsel overalt, hvor den kommer.
15Dens bug er hård og fast,
den kan modstå ethvert angreb.
16Dens hjerte er hårdt som sten,
urokkeligt som en møllesten.
17Går den til angreb, gyser de stærkeste helte,
de løber rædselsslagne deres vej.
18Det er nytteløst at kæmpe imod den med sværd,
hverken spyd, pil eller lanse kan bruges.
19Den bøjer jernstænger, som var det strå,
bronze splintrer den som råddent træ.
20Pile kan ikke jage den på flugt,
og sten preller af som ingenting.
21Stridskøller har ingen virkning,
og kastespyd ler den blot ad.
22Dens bug er dækket af skarpe skæl,
som sætter dybe spor i jorden.
23Flodvandet pisker den i kog,
det bobler som i en gryde.
24Kølvandet er som en glinsende sti,
en stribe af sølvhvidt skum.
25Der findes ingen skabning på jorden,
der er så frygtløs som den.
26Den har intet at være bange for,
den er det stolteste dyr på jorden.”
