English Standard Version

International Standard Version

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

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

2Can you put a rope in his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?

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

3Will he make many pleas to you? Will he speak to you soft words?

3Will he make many supplications to you, or will he beg you for mercy?

4Will he make a covenant with you to take him for your servant forever?

4Will he try to make a deal with you, so that you may take him in servitude forever?

5Will you play with him as with a bird, or will you put him on a leash for your girls?

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

6Will traders bargain over him? Will they divide him up among the merchants?

6Will your business be able to buy him, Will you divide him among your merchant friends?

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

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

8Lay your hands on him; remember the battle—you will not do it again!

8Lay your hand on him, and you'll remember the struggle. You'll never do that again!

9Behold, the hope of a man is false; he is laid low even at the sight of him.

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

10No one is so fierce that he dares to stir him up. Who then is he who can stand before me?

10No one is fierce enough to dare to arouse him. "Who, then, can stand in my presence and face me?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

22In his neck abides strength, and terror dances before him.

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

23The folds of his flesh stick together, firmly cast on him and immovable.

23There is no flaw in his body's armor; it is firmly fixed on him and unbreachable.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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.

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