Job 41

New Life Version

The Lord Is Speaking to Job

41 “Can you pull the crocodile out with a fish-hook? Can you tie his tongue down with a rope? ² Can you put a rope in his nose, or put a hook through his jaw? ³ Will he beg you to be good to him? Will he speak soft words to you? ⁴ Will he make an agreement with you to take him and make him your servant forever? ⁵ Will you play with him as if he were a bird? Or will you put him on a rope for your young women? ⁶ Will traders talk about buying and selling him? Will they divide him among the store-keepers? ⁷ Can you fill his skin or his head with fish spears? ⁸ Lay your hand on him, and remember the battle. You will not do it again! ⁹ See, the hope of man is false. One is laid low even when seeing him. ¹⁰ No one is so powerful that he would wake him. Who then can stand before Me? ¹¹ Who has given Me everything, that I should pay him back? Whatever is under the whole heaven is Mine.

¹² “I will not keep quiet about his legs, or his powerful strength, or the good way he is made. ¹³ Who can take off his outside clothing? Who can get through his hard skin? ¹⁴ Who can open the doors of his mouth? Around his teeth is much fear. ¹⁵ His hard covering is his pride. He is shut up as with a lock. ¹⁶ One piece of his hard skin is so close to another that no air can come between them. ¹⁷ They are joined one to another. They hold on to each other and cannot be separated. ¹⁸ His breath gives out light. And his eyes are like those of the first light of day. ¹⁹ Burning light goes out of his mouth. Fire comes out. ²⁰ Smoke goes out of his nostrils, as from a boiling pot and burning grass. ²¹ His breath sets fire to coals. A fire goes out of his mouth. ²² Strength is in his neck, and fear jumps in front of him. ²³ The folds of his flesh are joined together. They are set in place and cannot be moved. ²⁴ His heart is as hard as a stone, even as hard as a grinding-stone. ²⁵ When he raises himself up, the powerful are afraid. They are troubled because of his noise. ²⁶ The sword that hits him cannot cut. And spears are of no use. ²⁷ He thinks of iron as straw, and brass as soft wood. ²⁸ The arrow cannot make him run away. Stones thrown at him are like dry grass to him. ²⁹ He thinks of heavy sticks as dry grass. He laughs at the noise of the spear. ³⁰ The parts under him are like sharp pieces of a pot. He spreads out like a grain crusher on the mud. ³¹ He makes the sea boil like a pot. He makes the sea like a jar of oil. ³² He makes his way shine behind him. One would think that the sea has white hair. ³³ Nothing on earth is like him, one made without fear. ³⁴ He looks on everything that is high. He is king over all that are proud.”