⁷ Get ready for action like a man!
Then I will ask you questions,
and you will inform me.

⁸ Will you really deny that I am just?
Will you convict me, so that you can be acquitted?
⁹ Do you have an arm like God’s arm?
Does your voice thunder like his?
¹⁰ Go ahead, please. Adorn yourself with dignity and honor.
Clothe yourself with splendor and majesty.
¹¹ Pour out your overflowing anger.
Look at every proud man and bring him low.
¹² Look at every proud man and humble him.
Trample the wicked where they stand.
¹³ Bury them all together in the dust.
Cover their faces in the hidden place.
¹⁴ Then I will praise you
and admit that your right hand can save you.

² Can you put a reed in his nose
or pierce his jaw with a hook?
³ Will he keep asking for your favor
or speak tender words to you?
⁴ Will he sign a contract with you
so that you keep him as your servant forever?
⁵ Can you play with him like a bird?
Can you put him on a leash for your girls?
⁶ Do the merchants barter for Leviathan’s meat?
Do they divide it up with the other tradesmen?
⁷ Can you fill his hide with harpoons
and his head with fishing spears?
⁸ If you lay your hand on him,
you will never forget the battle and won’t do it again.
⁹ Listen! Any hope you have of overcoming him is unfounded.
Wouldn’t you be knocked down by the mere sight of him?
¹⁰ No one is fierce enough to risk stirring him up. ^[8]

Who then can stand before me?
¹¹ Who can confront me and demand that I repay him?
Everything under the whole sky belongs to me.

¹² I will tell about the parts of his body.
I will describe his power and his beautiful design.
¹³ Who can strip off his outer covering?
Who can touch his double layer of armor?
¹⁴ Who dares to open the doors to his mouth,
    which is surrounded with terrifying teeth?
¹⁵ His back ^[9] is like rows of shields,
    which are tightly joined together.
¹⁶ They are so close together not even a breath of air
can pass between them.
¹⁷ They are fastened to each other,
so they stick together and cannot be separated.
¹⁸ His snorts are flashes of light.
His eyes are like the eyelids of dawn.
¹⁹ Blazing torches come out of his mouth.
Sparks of fire shoot out.
²⁰ Smoke pours out from his nostrils
    like a pot boiling over a reed fire.
²¹ His breath sets coals on fire,
and flames come out of his mouth.
²² Strength dwells in his neck.
Despair dances ahead of him.
²³ The folds of his flesh are compact,
solid and immovable.
²⁴ His heart is as hard as rock,
as hard as a lower millstone.
²⁵ When he rises up, the mighty are afraid.
When he thrashes around, they retreat.
²⁶ If someone strikes him with a sword, it has no effect.
Neither do spears, arrows, or javelins.
²⁷ To him iron is like straw;
bronze is like rotten wood.
²⁸ Arrows do not make him flee.
To him sling stones are like chaff;
²⁹ clubs are like stubble.
He laughs at the shaking of a javelin.
³⁰ His underbelly is like sharp pieces of broken pottery.
It leaves marks in the mud like a threshing sledge.
³¹ He makes the depths boil like a cooking pot.
He makes the sea like a cauldron of ointment.
³² He leaves a shiny wake behind him.
The deep looks like a white-haired man.
³³ There is nothing at all like him on earth,
a creature without fear.
³⁴ He looks down on everything that is lofty.
He is king over every proud creature!

² I know that you can do all things.
No purpose of yours can be thwarted.
³ You asked, “Who is this who spreads darkness over my plans
    with his ignorant words?”
I have made statements about things I did not understand,
things too wonderful for me to know.
⁴ You said, “Listen now and I will speak.
I will ask you questions, and you will inform me.”
⁵ My ear heard about you.
Now my eyes see you.
⁶ So I despise myself.
I repent in dust and ashes.