(“) Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook or tie down his tongue ... with a rope ?
Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook ?
Will he beg you for mercy or speak to you softly ?
Will he make a covenant with you to take him as a slave for life ?
Can you pet like a bird or put him on a leash for your maidens ?
Will traders barter for him or divide him among the merchants ?
Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears ?
If you lay a hand on him , you will remember the battle and never repeat it !
Surely hope of (overcoming) him is false. Is not the sight of him overwhelming ?
No one is so fierce as to rouse Leviathan. Then who ... is able to stand against Me ?
Who has given to Me that I should repay him ? Everything under heaven is
I cannot keep silent about his limbs , ... his power and graceful form.
Who can strip off his outer coat ? Who can approach (him) with a bridle ?
Who can open his jaws ... , ringed by his fearsome teeth ?
(His) rows of scales are (his) pride , tightly sealed together ....
One scale is so near to another that no air can pass between them.
They are joined to one another ; they clasp and cannot be separated.
His snorting flashes with light , and his eyes are like the rays of dawn.
Firebrands stream from his mouth ; fiery sparks shoot forth !
Smoke billows from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.
His breath sets coals ablaze , and flames pour from his mouth.
Strength resides in his neck , and dismay leaps before him.
The folds of his flesh are tightly joined ; they are firm - and immovable ....
His chest is as hard as a rock , as hard as a lower millstone !
When Leviathan rises up , the mighty are terrified ; they withdraw before his thrashing.
The sword that reaches him has no effect , nor does the spear or dart or arrow.
He regards iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood.
No arrow can make him flee ; ... slingstones ... become like chaff
A club is regarded as straw , and he laughs at the sound of the lance.
His undersides are jagged potsherds , spreading out the mud like a threshing sledge ....
He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron ; he makes the sea like a jar of ointment.
He leaves a glistening wake behind him ; one would think the deep had white hair !
Nothing on earth is his equal — a creature devoid of fear !
He looks down on all the haughty ; he is king over - all the proud. ”