8 The Hebrew verb is שָׂחַק (sakhaq, “to sport; to trifle; to play,” Ps 104:26).
9 The idea may include putting Leviathan on a leash. D. W. Thomas suggested on the basis of an Arabic cognate that it could be rendered “tie him with a string like a young sparrow” ( 14 [1964]: 114ff.).
10 The word חָבַּר (khabbar) is a , but the meaning is “to associate” since it is etymologically related to the verb “to join together.” The idea is that fishermen usually work in companies or groups, and then divide up the catch when they come ashore—which involves bargaining.
11 The word כָּרַה (karah) means “to sell.” With the preposition עַל (’al, “upon”) it has the sense “to bargain over something.”
12 The verb means “to cut up; to divide up” in the sense of selling the dead body (see Exod 21:35). This will be between them and the merchants (כְּנַעֲנִים, kéna’anim).
13 The verse uses two imperatives which can be interpreted in sequence: do this, and then this will happen.

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

Will you play with him as with a bird,

or will you put him on a leash for your girls?

Will traders bargain over him?

Will they divide him up among the merchants?

Can you fill his skin with harpoons

or his head with fishing spears?

Lay your hands on him;

remember the battle—you will not do it again!

NIVNew International Version (2011)

Can you make a pet of it like a bird

or put it on a leash for the young women in your house?

Will traders barter for it?

Will they divide it up among the merchants?

Can you fill its hide with harpoons

or its head with fishing spears?

If you lay a hand on it,

you will remember the struggle and never do it again!

CSBChristian Standard Bible

Can you play with him like a bird

or put him on a leash for your girls?

Will traders bargain for him

or divide him among the merchants?

Can you fill his hide with harpoons

or his head with fishing spears?

Lay a hand on him.

You will remember the battle

and never repeat it!

NLTNew Living Translation

Can you make it a pet like a bird,

or give it to your little girls to play with?

Will merchants try to buy it

to sell it in their shops?

Will its hide be hurt by spears

or its head by a harpoon?

If you lay a hand on it,

you will certainly remember the battle that follows.

You won’t try that again!

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

Will you play with it as with birds

and put it on a leash for your girls?

Will guildsmen bargain over it?

Will they divide it between tradesmen?

Can you fill its skin with harpoons

or its head with fish spears?

Lay your hands on it;

think about the battle—you will not do it again!

KJV 1900King James Version

Wilt thou play with him as with a bird?

Or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens?

Shall the companions make a banquet of him?

Shall they part him among the merchants?

Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons?

Or his head with fish spears?

Lay thine hand upon him,

Remember the battle, do no more.

Public Domain