EVERYTHING UNDER HEAVEN BELONGS TO ME
Job 41:1-34 /
Keywords 41:11
Who has a claim against me that I must pay?
Everything under heaven belongs to me.
41:1 [a]“Can you pull in Leviathan with a fishhook
or tie down its tongue with a rope?
2 Can you put a cord through its nose
or pierce its jaw with a hook?
3 Will it keep begging you for mercy?
Will it speak to you with gentle words?
4 Will it make an agreement with you
for you to take it as your slave for life?
5 Can you make a pet of it like a bird
or put it on a leash for the young women in your house?
6 Will traders barter for it?
Will they divide it up among the merchants?
7 Can you fill its hide with harpoons
or its head with fishing spears?
8 If you lay a hand on it,
you will remember the struggle and never do it again!
9 Any hope of subduing it is false;
the mere sight of it is overpowering.
10 No one is fierce enough to rouse it.
Who then is able to stand against me?
11 Who 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.
13 Who can strip off its outer coat?
Who can penetrate its double coat of armor[b]?
14 Who dares open the doors of its mouth,
ringed about with fearsome teeth?
15 Its back has[c] rows of shields
tightly sealed together;
16 each is so close to the next
that no air can pass between.
17 They are joined fast to one another;
they cling together and cannot be parted.
18 Its snorting throws out flashes of light;
its eyes are like the rays of dawn.
19 Flames stream from its mouth;
sparks of fire shoot out.
20 Smoke pours from its nostrils
as from a boiling pot over burning reeds.
21 Its breath sets coals ablaze,
and flames dart from its mouth.
22 Strength resides in its neck;
dismay goes before it.
23 The folds of its flesh are tightly joined;
they are firm and immovable.
24 Its chest is hard as rock,
hard as a lower millstone.
25 When it rises up, the mighty are terrified;
they retreat before its thrashing.
26 The sword that reaches it has no effect,
nor does the spear or the dart or the javelin.
27 Iron it treats like straw
and bronze like rotten wood.
28 Arrows do not make it flee;
slingstones are like chaff to it.
29 A club seems to it but a piece of straw;
it laughs at the rattling of the lance.
30 Its undersides are jagged potsherds,
leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.
31 It makes the depths churn like a boiling caldron
and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment.
32 It leaves a glistening wake behind it;
one would think the deep had white hair.
33 Nothing on earth is its equal—
a creature without fear.
34 It looks down on all that are haughty;
it is king over all that are proud.”
Footnotes
a. Job 41:1 In Hebrew texts 41:1-8 is numbered 40:25-32, and 41:9-34 is numbered 41:1-26.
b. Job 41:13 Septuagint; Hebrew double bridle
c. Job 41:15 Or Its pride is its
1. In this chapter God speaks of the
Leviathan. It is unclear what creature this is, but it was the strongest and
most fearsome. Unlike the behemoth it seems to live in or near the sea.
Whatever it was, it could not be caught with a fishhook or even a harpoon.
There was no hope to subdue it. A man would be a fool to stand up to such a
creature. How much more foolish would it be to stand against God? Even the
Leviathan belongs to him. This was God’s message to Job.
2. The Leviathan had strong limbs, fearsome
teeth and impenetrable armor. It snorted like a dragon. Its flesh was immovable
and its chest like a rock. Weapons were useless against it. Nothing on earth
compared to the Leviathan—a creature without fear. It was king of all who were
proud. Job knew enough not to be proud and provoke the Leviathan. But Job had
been proud before God. So, God met him. He wanted Job to answer.
Prayer Lord, how foolish it is to be proud. Heal my heart so that I may be
humble before you.
One Word God brings proud men low
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