Job 41

¹ Whoever might vainly hope to do so need only see him to be overthrown.

² Is he not relentless when aroused; who then dares stand before him?

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 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.