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41 “Job, can you pull the leviathan out of the sea with a fish hook?

Can you tie down its tongue with a rope?

2 Can you put a rope through its nose?

Can you stick a hook through its jaw?

3 Will it keep begging you for mercy?

Will it speak gently to you?

4 Will it make an agreement with you?

Can you make it your slave for life?

5 Can you make a pet out of it like a bird?

Can you put it on a leash for your young women?

6 Will traders offer you something for it?

Will they divide it up among the merchants?

7 Can you fill its body with harpoons?

Can you throw fishing spears into its head?

8 If you touch it, it will fight you.

Then you will remember never to touch it again!

9 No one can possibly control the leviathan.

Just looking at it will terrify you.

10 No one dares to wake it up.

So who can possibly stand up to me?

11 Who has a claim against me that I must pay?

Everything on earth belongs to me.

12 “Now I will speak about the leviathan’s legs.

I will talk about its strength and its graceful body.

13 Who can strip off its outer coat?

Who would try to put a bridle on it?

14 Who dares to open its jaws?

Its mouth is filled with terrifying teeth.

15 Its back has rows of shields

that are close together.

16 Each one is so close to the next one

that not even air can pass between them.

17 They are joined tightly to one another.

They stick together and can’t be forced apart.

18 The leviathan’s snorting throws out flashes of light.

Its eyes shine like the first light of day.

19 Fire seems to spray out of its mouth.

Sparks of fire shoot out.

20 Smoke pours out of its nose.

It is like smoke from a boiling pot over burning grass.

21 Its breath sets coals on fire.

Flames fly out of its mouth.

22 Its neck is very strong.

People run to get out of its way.

23 Its rolls of fat are close together.

They are firm and can’t be moved.

24 Its chest is as hard as rock.

It is as hard as a lower millstone.

25 When the leviathan rises up,

even mighty people are terrified.

They run away when it moves around wildly.

26 A sword that strikes it has no effect.

Neither does a spear or dart or javelin.

27 It treats iron as if it were straw.

It crushes bronze as if it were rotten wood.

28 Arrows do not make it run away.

Stones that are thrown from slings are like straw hitting it.

29 A club seems like a piece of straw to it.

It laughs when it hears a javelin rattling.

30 Its undersides are like broken pieces of pottery.

It leaves a trail in the mud like a threshing sled.

31 It makes the ocean churn like a boiling pot.

It stirs up the sea like perfume someone is making.

32 It leaves a shiny trail behind it.

You would think the ocean had white hair.

33 Nothing on earth is equal to the leviathan.

That creature is not afraid of anything.

34 It looks down on proud people.

It rules over all those who are proud.”

NIrV

About New International Reader’s Version (1998)

The New International Reader’s Version (NIrV) was developed to help early readers understand the Bible. Begun in 1992, the NIrV is a simplification of the New International Version (NIV). The NIrV uses shorter words and sentences so that those with a typical fourth grade reading level can comprehend what they are reading. The chapters have been separated into shorter sections and most have titles that clearly indicate what the section is all about. The NIrV will be a valuable translation to those for whom English is a second language. The NIrV still relies on the best and oldest copies of the Hebrew and Greek manuscripts for its translation, guaranteeing that those who read it are getting the actual Word of God.

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All rights reserved.

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Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL READER’S VERSION™. Copyright © 1995, 1996, 1998 by International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan. All rights reserved.

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