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Job 41

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1 οὐ δέδοικας ὅτι ἡτοίμασταί μοι τίς γάρ ἐστιν ὁ ἐμοὶ ἀντιστάς 2 ἢ τίς ἀντιστήσεταί μοι καὶ ὑπομενεῖ εἰ πᾶσα ἡ ὑ{P'} οὐρανὸν ἐμή ἐστιν 3 οὐ σιωπήσομαι δ{I'} αὐτόν καὶ λόγον δυνάμεως ἐλεήσει τὸν ἴσον αὐτοῦ

1 It is in mercy that I forbear to make him a plague for mankind. But indeed, there is no resisting me, 2 nor can any deserve my thanks by lending me the aid I lacked; nothing on earth but is at my disposal. 3 I give him no quarter, for all his boastful, all his flattering words.[1]

1

Non quasi crudelis suscitabo eum:
quis enim resistere potest vultui meo? 2
Quis ante dedit mihi, ut reddam ei?
omnia quæ sub cælo sunt, mea sunt. 3
Non parcam ei, et verbis potentibus,
et ad deprecandum compositis.

4 τίς ἀποκαλύψει πρόσωπον ἐνδύσεως αὐτοῦ εἰς δὲ πτύξιν θώρακος αὐτοῦ τίς ἂν εἰσέλθοι 5 πύλας προσώπου αὐτοῦ τίς ἀνοίξει κύκλῳ ὀδόντων αὐτοῦ φόβος 6 τὰ ἔγκατα αὐτοῦ ἀσπίδες χάλκειαι σύνδεσμος δὲ αὐτοῦ ὥσπερ σμιρίτης λίθος 7 εἷς τοῦ ἑνὸς κολλῶνται πνεῦμα δὲ οὐ μὴ διέλθῃ αὐτόν 8 ἀνὴρ τῷ ἀδελφῷ αὐτοῦ προσκολληθήσεται συνέχονται καὶ οὐ μὴ ἀποσπασθῶσιν 9 ἐν πταρμῷ αὐτοῦ ἐπιφαύσκεται φέγγος οἱ δὲ ὀφθαλμοὶ αὐτοῦ εἶδος ἑωσφόρου 10 ἐκ στόματος αὐτοῦ ἐκπορεύονται λαμπάδες καιόμεναι καὶ διαρριπτοῦνται ἐσχάραι πυρός 11 ἐκ μυκτήρων αὐτοῦ ἐκπορεύεται καπνὸς καμίνου καιομένης πυρὶ ἀνθράκων 12 ἡ ψυχὴ αὐτοῦ ἄνθρακες φλὸξ δὲ ἐκ στόματος αὐτοῦ ἐκπορεύεται 13 ἐν δὲ τραχήλῳ αὐτοῦ αὐλίζεται δύναμις ἔμπροσθεν αὐτοῦ τρέχει ἀπώλεια 14 σάρκες δὲ σώματος αὐτοῦ κεκόλληνται καταχέει ἐ{P'} αὐτόν οὐ σαλευθήσεται 15 ἡ καρδία αὐτοῦ πέπηγεν ὡς λίθος ἕστηκεν δὲ ὥσπερ ἄκμων ἀνήλατος 16 στραφέντος δὲ αὐτοῦ φόβος θηρίοις τετράποσιν ἐπὶ γῆς ἁλλομένοις 17 ἐὰν συναντήσωσιν αὐτῷ λόγχαι οὐδὲν μὴ ποιήσωσιν δόρυ ἐπηρμένον καὶ θώρακα 18 ἥγηται μὲν γὰρ σίδηρον ἄχυρα χαλκὸν δὲ ὥσπερ ξύλον σαθρόν 19 οὐ μὴ τρώσῃ αὐτὸν τόξον χάλκειον ἥγηται μὲν πετροβόλον χόρτον 20 ὡς καλάμη ἐλογίσθησαν σφῦραι καταγελᾷ δὲ σεισμοῦ πυρφόρου 21 ἡ στρωμνὴ αὐτοῦ ὀβελίσκοι ὀξεῖς πᾶς δὲ χρυσὸς θαλάσσης ὑ{P'} αὐτὸν ὥσπερ πηλὸς ἀμύθητος 22 ἀναζεῖ τὴν ἄβυσσον ὥσπερ χαλκεῖον ἥγηται δὲ τὴν θάλασσαν ὥσπερ ἐξάλειπτρον 23 τὸν δὲ τάρταρον τῆς ἀβύσσου ὥσπερ αἰχμάλωτον ἐλογίσατο ἄβυσσον εἰς περίπατον

4 Who can strip the skin of him, who can penetrate into the cavern of his mouth, 5 forcing the gates that guard it, the terrors of his teeth? 6 The body of him is like shields of cast metal, scale pressing on scale, 7 so close to one another as to leave no vent between; 8 so well joined that nothing will part them. 9 Let him but sneeze, the fire flashes out; let him open his eyes, it is like the glimmer of dawn; 10 flames come from his jaws, bright as a burning torch, 11 smoke from his nostrils, thick as the fumes of a seething pot; 12 his very breath will set coals aflame, such fire issues from that mouth. 13 What strength dwells in that neck of his, what terrors play about him! 14 Firm-set are the folds of his flesh, unyielding though a thunder-bolt should strike them;[2] 15 firm-set, too, is the heart of him, firm as ever stone was, or smith’s anvil. 16 Rises he up, angels themselves are afraid, and take sanctuary in their dread.[3] 17 Sword-thrust, nor spear, nor breast-plate can hold their own against him; 18 to him, steel is but chaff, bronze but touch-wood, 19 nor fears he the archer; sling-stones he counts as straw, 20 as straw the hammer-blow, laughs at the brandished spear. 21 Sunlight flashes beneath him as he goes, a path of gold through the slime;[4] 22 he makes the deep sea boil like a pot where ointment simmers; 23 how it shines in his wake, as though ocean itself had grown hoary with age!

4
Quis revelabit faciem indumenti ejus?
et in medium oris ejus quis intrabit? 5
Portas vultus ejus quis aperiet?
per gyrum dentium ejus formido. 6
Corpus illius quasi scuta fusilia,
compactum squamis se prementibus. 7
Una uni conjungitur,
et ne spiraculum quidem incedit per eas. 8
Una alteri adhærebit,
et tenentes se nequaquam separabuntur. 9
Sternutatio ejus splendor ignis,
et oculi ejus ut palpebræ diluculi. 10
De ore ejus lampades procedunt,
sicut tædæ ignis accensæ. 11
De naribus ejus procedit fumus,
sicut ollæ succensæ atque ferventis. 12
Halitus ejus prunas ardere facit,
et flamma de ore ejus egreditur. 13
In collo ejus morabitur fortitudo,
et faciem ejus præcedit egestas. 14
Membra carnium ejus cohærentia sibi:
mittet contra eum fulmina, et ad locum alium non ferentur. 15
Cor ejus indurabitur tamquam lapis,
et stringetur quasi malleatoris incus. 16
Cum sublatus fuerit, timebunt angeli,
et territi purgabuntur. 17
Cum apprehenderit eum gladius, subsistere non poterit,
neque hasta, neque thorax: 18
reputabit enim quasi paleas ferrum,
et quasi lignum putridum æs. 19
Non fugabit eum vir sagittarius:
in stipulam versi sunt ei lapides fundæ. 20
Quasi stipulam æstimabit malleum,
et deridebit vibrantem hastam. 21
Sub ipso erunt radii solis,
et sternet sibi aurum quasi lutum. 22
Fervescere faciet quasi ollam profundum mare,
et ponet quasi cum unguenta bulliunt. 23
Post eum lucebit semita:
æstimabit abyssum quasi senescentem.

24 οὐκ ἔστιν οὐδὲν ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς ὅμοιον αὐτῷ πεποιημένον ἐγκαταπαίζεσθαι ὑπὸ τῶν ἀγγέλων μου 25 πᾶν ὑψηλὸν ὁρᾷ αὐτὸς δὲ βασιλεὺς πάντων τῶν ἐν τοῖς ὕδασιν

24 He has not his like among the strong things of earth, that fearless nature, 25 that heaven-confronting eye. Over all the pride of earth he reigns supreme.

24
Non est super terram potestas quæ comparetur ei,
qui factus est ut nullum timeret. 25
Omne sublime videt:
ipse est rex super universos filios superbiæ.

[1] vv. 1-3. The Latin version here differs widely from the Hebrew text, which itself gives a questionable sense. If we follow the Latin it seems impossible to suppose that any creature in the natural order, such as the crocodile, is envisaged. But indeed there are many allusions in this chapter which cannot, without considerable ingenuity, be referred to the crocodile.

[2] There is no reference to a thunder-bolt in the Hebrew text. In the following verse, it has ‘nether mill-stone’ instead of ‘smith’s anvil’.

[3] ‘Take sanctuary’; literally, in the Latin version, ‘purify themselves’. The Hebrew word used is commonly interpreted as meaning ‘are bewildered’ in this context; and the Hebrew word rendered ‘angels’ perhaps only means ‘strong men’.

[4] The Hebrew text is different here, and apparently compares the scales of Leviathan to potsherds.

Knox Translation Copyright © 2013 Westminster Diocese
Nihil Obstat. Father Anton Cowan, Censor.
Imprimatur. +Most Rev. Vincent Nichols, Archbishop of Westminster. 8th January 2012.
Re-typeset and published in 2012 by Baronius Press Ltd