411 "Can you catch Leviathan with a hook or put a noose around its jaw? 2 Can you tie it with a rope through the nose or pierce its jaw with a spike? 3 Will it beg you for mercy or implore you for pity? 4 Will it agree to work for you, to be your slave for life? 5 Can you make it a pet like a bird, or give it to your little girls to play with? 6 Will merchants try to buy it to sell it in their shops? 7 Will its hide be hurt by spears or its head by a harpoon? 8 If you lay a hand on it, you will certainly remember the battle that follows. You won't try that again! 9 No, it is useless to try to capture it. The hunter who attempts it will be knocked down. 10 And since no one dares to disturb it, who then can stand up to me?

11 Who has given me anything that I need to pay back? Everything under heaven is mine. 12 "I want to emphasize Leviathan's limbs and its enormous strength and graceful form. 13 Who can strip off its hide, and who can penetrate its double layer of armor? 14 Who could pry open its jaws? For its teeth are terrible! 15 The scales on its back are like rows of shields tightly sealed together. 16 They are so close together that no air can get between them. 17 Each scale sticks tight to the next. They interlock and cannot be penetrated. 18 "When it sneezes, it flashes light! Its eyes are like the red of dawn. 19 Lightning leaps from its mouth; flames of fire flash out. 20 Smoke streams from its nostrils like steam from a pot heated over burning rushes. 21 Its breath would kindle coals, for flames shoot from its mouth. 22 "The tremendous strength in Leviathan's neck strikes terror wherever it goes.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Job 41:1-22

Chapter Contents

Concerning Leviathan.

The description of the Leviathan, is yet further to convince Job of his own weakness, and of God's almighty power. Whether this Leviathan be a whale or a crocodile, is disputed. The Lord, having showed Job how unable he was to deal with the Leviathan, sets forth his own power in that mighty creature. If such language describes the terrible force of Leviathan, what words can express the power of God's wrath? Under a humbling sense of our own vileness, let us revere the Divine Majesty; take and fill our allotted place, cease from our own wisdom, and give all glory to our gracious God and Saviour. Remembering from whom every good gift cometh, and for what end it was given, let us walk humbly with the Lord.