Wisdom · Chapter 41 of 42

Job 41

God describes leviathan, a fearsome sea creature no one can capture or tame. Its scales, teeth, and armored hide defy every weapon, and its breath is like fire and smoke. No one dares rouse it, and if none can stand before this creature, God asks, who then can stand before its Maker? Leviathan is king over all the proud.

What happens in Job 41

God asks Job whether he can draw out leviathan with a hook, put a cord in its tongue, or make it beg for mercy and become a servant. Can Job play with it like a bird or sell it among merchants? To lay a hand on it is to remember the battle and never try again. Then God turns the point: if no one dares face leviathan, who can stand before God, to whom everything under heaven belongs? God describes the creature's terrible parts: its tightly sealed scales, its flashing eyes, its mouth from which burning lamps and sparks go out, its nostrils smoking like a boiling pot, its breath kindling coals.

Its heart is hard as stone. Swords, spears, arrows, and slingstones are useless against it. It makes the deep boil and leaves a shining wake. On earth there is nothing like it, made without fear, a king over all the children of pride.

Job 41 in context

Leviathan is the second and climactic creature in God's whirlwind speech. Drawing on imagery of a great, dragon-like sea monster, God presents a being of overwhelming, chaotic power that humans cannot subdue. The argument is greater-to-lesser: if Job cannot face this creature, how could he contend with its Creator? Some later Christian readers have seen leviathan as a picture of evil or the devil, though the text itself presents it as a creature God alone masters.

That association is interpretation, not the plain sense.

Main themes of Job 41

Job 41 (KJV)

1Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down? 2Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn? 3Will he make many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft words unto thee? 4Will he make a covenant with thee? wilt thou take him for a servant for ever? 5Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens? 6Shall the companions make a banquet of him? shall they part him among the merchants? 7Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears? 8Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more. 9Behold, the hope of him is in vain: shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him? 10None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me? 11Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him? whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine. 12I will not conceal his parts, nor his power, nor his comely proportion. 13Who can discover the face of his garment? or who can come to him with his double bridle? 14Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about. 15His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal. 16One is so near to another, that no air can come between them. 17They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered. 18By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. 19Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out. 20Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron. 21His breath kindleth coals, and a flame goeth out of his mouth. 22In his neck remaineth strength, and sorrow is turned into joy before him. 23The flakes of his flesh are joined together: they are firm in themselves; they cannot be moved. 24His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone. 25When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid: by reason of breakings they purify themselves. 26The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the spear, the dart, nor the habergeon. 27He esteemeth iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood. 28The arrow cannot make him flee: slingstones are turned with him into stubble. 29Darts are counted as stubble: he laugheth at the shaking of a spear. 30Sharp stones are under him: he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire. 31He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment. 32He maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary. 33Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear. 34He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride.

Verses to carry from Job 41

“None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me?”Job 41:10

“Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him? whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine.”Job 41:11

“He beholdeth all high things: he is a king over all the children of pride.”Job 41:34

Reflection

God ends his speech with a creature of terror no one can tame, and the message lands: if you cannot face the leviathan, how will you contend with its Maker? What untameable thing in your life are you fighting alone, that belongs in the hands of the God who made even the deep?

A prayer from Job 41