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⁶Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind: ⁷“Gird up your loins like a man; I will question you, and you declare to me. ⁸Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be justified? ⁹Have you an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his? ¹⁰“Deck yourself with majesty and dignity; clothe yourself with glory and splendor. ¹¹Pour out the overflowings of your anger, and look on all who are proud, and abase them. ¹²Look on all who are proud, and bring them low; tread down the wicked where they stand. ¹³Hide them all in the dust together; bind their faces in the world below. ¹⁴Then I will also acknowledge to you that your own right hand can give you victory.

¹⁵“Look at Behemoth, which I made just as I made you; it eats grass like an ox. ¹⁶Its strength is in its loins, and its power in the muscles of its belly. ¹⁷It makes its tail stiff like a cedar; the sinews of its thighs are knit together. ¹⁸Its bones are tubes of bronze, its limbs like bars of iron. ¹⁹“It is the first of the great acts of God— only its Maker can approach it with the sword. ²⁰For the mountains yield food for it where all the wild animals play. ²¹Under the lotus plants it lies, in the covert of the reeds and in the marsh. ²²The lotus trees cover it for shade; the willows of the wadi surround it. ²³Even if the river is turbulent, it is not frightened; it is confident though Jordan rushes against its mouth. ²⁴Can one take it with hooks or pierce its nose with a snare?

41“Can you draw out Leviathan with a fishhook, or press down its tongue with a cord? ²Can you put a rope in its nose, or pierce its jaw with a hook? ³Will it make many supplications to you? Will it speak soft words to you? ⁴Will it make a covenant with you to be taken as your servant forever? ⁵Will you play with it as with a bird, or will you put it on leash for your girls? ⁶Will traders bargain over it? Will they divide it up among the merchants? ⁷Can you fill its skin with harpoons, or its head with fishing spears? ⁸Lay hands on it; think of the battle; you will not do it again! ⁹Any hope of capturing it will be disappointed; were not even the gods overwhelmed at the sight of it? ¹⁰No one is so fierce as to dare to stir it up. Who can stand before it?

¹¹Who can confront it and be safe? —under the whole heaven, who? ¹²“I will not keep silence concerning its limbs, or its mighty strength, or its splendid frame. ¹³Who can strip off its outer garment? Who can penetrate its double coat of mail? ¹⁴Who can open the doors of its face? There is terror all around its teeth. ¹⁵Its back is made of shields in rows, shut up closely as with a seal. ¹⁶One is so near to another that no air can come between them. ¹⁷They are joined one to another; they clasp each other and cannot be separated. ¹⁸Its sneezes flash forth light, and its eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn. ¹⁹From its mouth go flaming torches; sparks of fire leap out. ²⁰Out of its nostrils comes smoke, as from a boiling pot and burning rushes. ²¹Its breath kindles coals, and a flame comes out of its mouth. ²²In its neck abides strength, and terror dances before it. ²³The folds of its flesh cling together; it is firmly cast and immovable. ²⁴Its heart is as hard as stone, as hard as the lower millstone. ²⁵When it raises itself up the gods are afraid; at the crashing they are beside themselves. ²⁶Though the sword reaches it, it does not avail, nor does the spear, the dart, or the javelin. ²⁷It counts iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood. ²⁸The arrow cannot make it flee; slingstones, for it, are turned to chaff. ²⁹Clubs are counted as chaff; it laughs at the rattle of javelins. ³⁰Its underparts are like sharp potsherds; it spreads itself like a threshing sledge on the mire. ³¹It makes the deep boil like a pot; it makes the sea like a pot of ointment. ³²It leaves a shining wake behind it; one would think the deep to be white-haired. ³³On earth it has no equal, a creature without fear. ³⁴It surveys everything that is lofty; it is king over all that are proud.”