Job 41

General context

The Lord's speech continues with leviathan. Can Job draw him out with a hook, put a hook in his nose or bore his jaw with a thorn? Will he make supplications, speak soft words, make a covenant and be Job's servant for ever? Will Job play with him as with a bird or bind him for his maidens; will companions banquet on him and part him among the merchants; can Job fill his skin with barbed irons? Lay a hand on him, remember the battle, and do no more; the hope of him is in vain. None is fierce enough to stir him up, and who then can stand before the Lord? Whatever is under heaven is his. He will not conceal leviathan's parts or power. Who can strip his garment, bridle him, or open the doors of his face with its terrible teeth? His scales are his pride, sealed so close that no air comes between. His sneezings flash light; his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning; burning lamps and sparks go out of his mouth, smoke from his nostrils as from a seething pot, and his breath kindles coals. Strength is in his neck; sorrow is turned into joy before him. His heart is as hard as the nether millstone. When he rises the mighty are afraid. Sword, spear, dart and habergeon cannot hold; iron is straw to him and brass rotten wood; arrows, slingstones and darts are stubble, and he laughs at the shaking of a spear. He makes the deep boil like a pot and the sea like ointment, and leaves a shining path behind him. On earth there is not his like; he is made without fear, beholds all high things, and is a king over all the children of pride.

Cited passages: Job 41:1, Job 41:2, Job 41:3, Job 41:4, Job 41:5, Job 41:6, Job 41:7, Job 41:8, Job 41:9, Job 41:10, Job 41:11, Job 41:12, Job 41:13, Job 41:14, Job 41:15, Job 41:16, Job 41:18, Job 41:19, Job 41:20, Job 41:21, Job 41:22, Job 41:24, Job 41:25, Job 41:26, Job 41:27, Job 41:28, Job 41:29, Job 41:30, Job 41:31, Job 41:32, Job 41:33, Job 41:34

Job 41 (KJV)

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Historical context

There is no new heading; the chapter continues the Lord's second speech, begun in chapter 40 out of the whirlwind, and the next heading, at the start of chapter 42, is Job's answer. "Leviathan" is the KJV's untranslated name. The text describes a creature with sealed scales, terrible teeth, fire and smoke from mouth and nostrils, and a path left shining in the sea, and calls him "a king over all the children of pride"; it does not say what animal, if any, is meant, and none is added here. In verses 10 and 11 the speaker shifts from the creature to himself, "who then is able to stand before me?" and "whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine," the only lines in the chapter where the Lord speaks of his own claim. Hooks, cords, thorns, barbed irons, fish spears, merchants, sword, spear, dart, habergeon, arrows and slingstones are named as human means that fail. No place is named. The chapter is the last of the Lord's words in the book; the narrator in the next chapter refers to "these words" when the Lord turns to Eliphaz.

Cited passages: Job 40:6, Job 42:1, Job 41:1, Job 41:34, Job 41:10, Job 41:11, Job 41:7, Job 41:26, Job 42:7

Literary context

The chapter has two movements. The first is a set of questions about capture and use: hook, cord, thorn, covenant, servant, plaything, banquet, merchandise, spears. Each asks what Job could do to leviathan, and the section ends with the Lord turning the point on himself: if none dare stir the creature, who can stand before its maker? The second movement is description, moving over the body from garment and teeth to scales, eyes, mouth, nostrils, neck, flesh and heart, then to the weapons that fail against him and the sea he churns. The list of useless arms, sword, spear, dart, habergeon, arrow, slingstones, darts, mirrors the war horse of chapter 39 who mocked at the same weapons, and the closing "made without fear" completes the thread of fearlessness begun there. "King over all the children of pride" ties back to the Lord's dare that Job abase every one that is proud: the speeches end on the creature who rules the proud that Job could not bring low. The line "Upon earth there is not his like" repeats the form the Lord used of Job in the prologue, "there is none like him in the earth," so the book's two singular beings are described in the same words.

Cited passages: Job 41:1, Job 41:4, Job 41:6, Job 41:10, Job 41:14, Job 41:24, Job 41:26, Job 39:22, Job 41:33, Job 41:34, Job 40:11, Job 1:8

Key moments

1. Leviathan on a hook? (Job 41:1). The Lord asks whether Job can draw out leviathan with a hook.
2. No covenant, no servant (Job 41:4). The Lord asks whether leviathan will make a covenant or serve Job.
3. Who can stand before me? (Job 41:10). Since none dare stir leviathan, the Lord asks who can stand before him.
4. All under heaven is mine (Job 41:11). The Lord says no one has gone before him to be repaid; everything is his.
5. Scales sealed together (Job 41:15). Leviathan's scales are his pride, so close that no air passes between.
6. Fire from his mouth (Job 41:19). Burning lamps and sparks come out of leviathan's mouth.
7. King over the proud (Job 41:34). The Lord ends by calling leviathan king over all the children of pride.

For reflection

The Lord's last words before Job's reply describe a creature no one can tame, "a king over all the children of pride." Why end there rather than with a statement about Job?