41 In Hebrew texts 41:1-8 is numbered 40:25-32, and 41:9-34 is numbered 41:1-26. 1“Can you pull in Leviathan with a fishhook
or tie down its tongue with a rope?
2Can you put a cord through its nose
or pierce its jaw with a hook?
3Will it keep begging you for mercy?
Will it speak to you with gentle words?
4Will it make an agreement with you
for you to take it as your slave for life?
5Can you make a pet of it like a bird
or put it on a leash for the young women in your house?
6Will traders barter for it?
Will they divide it up among the merchants?
7Can you fill its hide with harpoons
or its head with fishing spears?
8If you lay a hand on it,
you will remember the struggle and never do it again!
9Any hope of subduing it is false;
the mere sight of it is overpowering.
10No one is fierce enough to rouse it.
Who then is able to stand against me?
11Who has a claim against me that I must pay?
Everything under heaven belongs to me.
12“I will not fail to speak of Leviathan’s limbs,
its strength and its graceful form.
13Who can strip off its outer coat?
Who can penetrate its double coat of armor41:13 Septuagint; Hebrew double bridle?
14Who dares open the doors of its mouth,
ringed about with fearsome teeth?
15Its back has41:15 Or Its pride is its rows of shields
tightly sealed together;
16each is so close to the next
that no air can pass between.
17They are joined fast to one another;
they cling together and cannot be parted.
18Its snorting throws out flashes of light;
its eyes are like the rays of dawn.
19Flames stream from its mouth;
sparks of fire shoot out.
20Smoke pours from its nostrils
as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.
21Its breath sets coals ablaze,
and flames dart from its mouth.
22Strength resides in its neck;
dismay goes before it.
23The folds of its flesh are tightly joined;
they are firm and immovable.
24Its chest is hard as rock,
hard as a lower millstone.
25When it rises up, the mighty are terrified;
they retreat before its thrashing.
26The sword that reaches it has no effect,
nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin.
27Iron it treats like straw
and bronze like rotten wood.
28Arrows do not make it flee;
slingstones are like chaff to it.
29A club seems to it but a piece of straw;
it laughs at the rattling of the lance.
30Its undersides are jagged potsherds,
leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.
31It makes the depths churn like a boiling caldron
and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment.
32It leaves a glistening wake behind it;
one would think the deep had white hair.
33Nothing on earth is its equal—
a creature without fear.
34It looks down on all that are haughty;
it is king over all that are proud.”
141:1 Za 104:26; Isa 27:1“Je, waweza kumvua Lewiathani41:1 Lewiathani ni mnyama mkubwa wa baharini mwenye magamba anayefanana na joka kubwa, mwenye umbo la kutisha, asiyeweza kuvuliwa. kwa ndoano ya samaki,
au kufunga ulimi wake kwa kamba?
241:2 Isa 37:29; Eze 19:4; Isa 30:28Waweza kupitisha kamba puani mwake,
au kutoboa taya lake kwa kulabu?
341:3 1Fal 20:31Je, ataendelea kukuomba umhurumie?
Atasema nawe maneno ya upole?
441:4 Kut 21:6Je, atafanya agano nawe ili umtwae
awe mtumishi wako maisha yake yote?
5Je, utamfuga na kumfanya rafiki kama ndege,
au kumfunga kamba kwa ajili ya wasichana wako?
6Je, wafanyabiashara watabadilishana bidhaa kwa ajili yake?
Watamgawanya miongoni mwa wafanyao biashara?
741:7 Ay 40:24Je, waweza kuijaza ngozi yake kwa vyuma vyenye ncha kali,
au kichwa chake kwa mkuki wa kuvulia samaki?
841:8 Ay 3:8Kama ukiweka mkono wako juu yake,
utavikumbuka hivyo vita na kamwe hutarudia tena!
941:9 Ay 40:16Tumaini lolote la kumtiisha ni kujidanganya;
kule kumwona tu kunamwangusha mtu chini.
1041:10 Ay 3:8; 2Nya 20:6; Ufu 6:17; 1Kor 10:22Hakuna yeyote aliye mkali athubutuye kumchokoza.
Ni nani basi awezaye kusimama dhidi yangu?
1141:11 Ay 34:33; Yos 3:11; Rum 11:35; Mdo 4:24; Mwa 14:19; Kum 10:14Ni nani mwenye madai dhidi yangu ili nipate kumlipa?
Kila kitu kilicho chini ya mbingu ni mali yangu.
1241:12 Ay 40:18; 39:11“Sitashindwa kunena juu ya maungo yake,
nguvu zake na umbo lake zuri.
1341:13 Ay 30:11; 39:10Ni nani awezaye kumvua gamba lake la nje?
Ni nani awezaye kumsogelea na lijamu?
1441:14 Za 22:13Nani athubutuye kuufungua mlango wa kinywa chake,
kilichozungukwa na meno yake ya kutisha pande zote?
1541:15 Ay 40:17Mgongo wake una safu za ngao
zilizoshikamanishwa imara pamoja;
16kila moja iko karibu sana na mwenzake,
wala hakuna hewa iwezayo kupita kati yake.
17Zimeunganishwa imara kila moja na nyingine;
zimengʼangʼaniana pamoja wala haziwezi kutenganishwa.
1841:18 Ay 40:17Akipiga chafya mwanga humetameta;
macho yake ni kama mionzi ya mapambazuko.
1941:19 Dan 10:6Mienge iwakayo humiminika kutoka kinywani mwake;
cheche za moto huruka nje.
2041:20 Za 18:8Moshi hufuka kutoka puani mwake,
kama kutoka kwenye chungu kinachotokota kwa moto wa matete.
2141:21 Ay 4:9; Isa 11:4; 10:17; Yer 4:4Pumzi yake huwasha makaa ya mawe,
nayo miali ya moto huruka kutoka kinywani mwake.
2241:22 Ay 39:11Nguvu hukaa katika shingo yake;
utisho hutangulia mbele yake.
23Mikunjo ya nyama yake imeshikamana imara pamoja;
iko imara na haiwezi kuondolewa.
2441:24 Mt 18:6Kifua chake ni kigumu kama mwamba,
kigumu kama jiwe la chini la kusagia.
2541:25 Ay 39:20; 3:8Ainukapo, mashujaa wanaogopa;
hurudi nyuma mbele yake anapokwenda kwa kishindo.
2641:26 Ay 8:18; 40:24Upanga unaomfikia haumdhuru,
wala mkuki au mshale wala fumo.
2741:27 Ay 41:29Chuma hukiona kama unyasi,
na shaba kama mti uliooza.
2841:28 Za 91:5Mishale haimfanyi yeye akimbie;
mawe ya kombeo kwake ni kama makapi.
2941:29 Ay 41:27; 5:22Rungu kwake huwa kama kipande cha jani kavu;
hucheka sauti za kugongana kwa mkuki.
3041:30 Isa 28:27; Amo 1:3; Isa 41:15Sehemu zake za chini kwenye tumbo
zina menomeno na mapengo kama vigae vya chungu,
zikiacha mburuzo kwenye matope
kama chombo chenye meno cha kupuria.
3141:31 1Sam 2:14; Eze 32:2Huvisukasuka vilindi kama sufuria kubwa ichemkayo,
na kukoroga bahari kama chungu cha marhamu.
32Anapopita nyuma yake huacha mkondo unaometameta;
mtu angedhani vilindi vilikuwa na mvi.
3341:33 Ay 40:19Hakuna chochote duniani kinacholingana naye:
yeye ni kiumbe kisicho na woga.
3441:34 Ay 28:8Yeye huwatazama chini wale wote wenye kujivuna;
yeye ni mfalme juu ya wote wenye kiburi.”
