Leviathan: Biblical Texts and Ministry Claims

⁸May it be cursed by those who curse the day—those prepared to rouse Leviathan.

¹“Can you pull in Leviathan with a hook or tie down his tongue with a rope? ²Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook? ³Will he beg you for mercy or speak to you softly? ⁴Will he make a covenant with you to take him as a slave for life? ⁵Can you pet him like a bird or put him on a leash for your maidens? ⁶Will traders barter for him or divide him among the merchants? ⁷Can you fill his hide with harpoons or his head with fishing spears? ⁸If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the battle and never repeat it! ⁹Surely hope of overcoming him is false. Is not the sight of him overwhelming? ¹⁰No one is so fierce as to rouse Leviathan. Then who is able to stand against Me? ¹¹Who has given to Me that I should repay him? Everything under heaven is Mine.

¹²I cannot keep silent about his limbs, his power and graceful form. ¹³Who can strip off his outer coat? Who can approach him with a bridle? ¹⁴Who can open his jaws, ringed by his fearsome teeth? ¹⁵His rows of scales are his pride, tightly sealed together. ¹⁶One scale is so near to another that no air can pass between them. ¹⁷They are joined to one another; they clasp and cannot be separated. ¹⁸His snorting flashes with light, and his eyes are like the rays of dawn. ¹⁹Firebrands stream from his mouth; fiery sparks shoot forth! ²⁰Smoke billows from his nostrils as from a boiling pot over burning reeds. ²¹His breath sets coals ablaze, and flames pour from his mouth. ²²Strength resides in his neck, and dismay leaps before him. ²³The folds of his flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable. ²⁴His chest is as hard as a rock, as hard as a lower millstone! ²⁵When Leviathan rises up, the mighty are terrified; they withdraw before his thrashing. ²⁶The sword that reaches him has no effect, nor does the spear or dart or arrow. ²⁷He regards iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood. ²⁸No arrow can make him flee; slingstones become like chaff to him. ²⁹A club is regarded as straw, and he laughs at the sound of the lance. ³⁰His undersides are jagged potsherds, spreading out the mud like a threshing sledge. ³¹He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron; he makes the sea like a jar of ointment. ³²He leaves a glistening wake behind him; one would think the deep had white hair! ³³Nothing on earth is his equal—a creature devoid of fear! ³⁴He looks down on all the haughty; he is king over all the proud.”

¹²Yet God is my King from ancient times, working salvation on the earth. ¹³You divided the sea by Your strength; You smashed the heads of the dragons of the sea; ¹⁴You crushed the heads of Leviathan; You fed him to the creatures of the desert. ¹⁵You broke open the fountain and the flood; You dried up the ever-flowing rivers. ¹⁶The day is Yours, and also the night; You established the moon and the sun. ¹⁷You set all the boundaries of the earth; You made the summer and winter.

²⁴How many are Your works, O LORD! In wisdom You have made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures. ²⁵Here is the sea, vast and wide, teeming with creatures beyond number, living things both great and small. ²⁶There the ships pass, and Leviathan, which You formed to frolic there.

¹In that day the LORD will take His sharp, great, and mighty sword, and bring judgment on Leviathan the fleeing serpent—Leviathan the coiling serpent—and He will slay the dragon of the sea.

¹²By His power He stirred the sea; by His understanding He shattered Rahab. ¹³By His breath the skies were cleared; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent. ¹⁴Indeed, these are but the fringes of His ways; how faint is the whisper we hear of Him! Who then can understand the thunder of His power?”

⁶Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said: ⁷“Now brace yourself like a man; I will question you, and you shall inform Me. ⁸Would you really annul My justice? Would you condemn Me to justify yourself? ⁹Do you have an arm like God’s? Can you thunder with a voice like His? ¹⁰Then adorn yourself with majesty and splendor, and clothe yourself with honor and glory. ¹¹Unleash the fury of your wrath; look on every proud man and bring him low. ¹²Look on every proud man and humble him; trample the wicked where they stand. ¹³Bury them together in the dust; imprison them in the grave. ¹⁴Then I will confess to you that your own right hand can save you.

¹³To fear the LORD is to hate evil; I hate arrogant pride, evil conduct, and perverse speech.

¹⁸Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. ¹⁹It is better to be lowly in spirit among the humble than to divide the spoil with the proud.

¹³Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good conduct, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom. ¹⁴But if you harbor bitter jealousy and selfish ambition in your hearts, do not boast in it or deny the truth. ¹⁵Such wisdom does not come from above, but is earthly, unspiritual, demonic. ¹⁶For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there will be disorder and every evil practice. ¹⁷But the wisdom from above is first of all pure, then peace-loving, gentle, accommodating, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial, and sincere. ¹⁸Peacemakers who sow in peace reap the fruit of righteousness.

⁶But He gives us more grace. This is why it says: “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” ⁷Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you. ⁸Draw near to God, and He will draw near to you. Cleanse your hands, you sinners, and purify your hearts, you double-minded. ⁹Grieve, mourn, and weep. Turn your laughter to mourning, and your joy to gloom. ¹⁰Humble yourselves before the Lord, and He will exalt you.

⁵Young men, in the same way, submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” ⁶Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, so that in due time He may exalt you. ⁷Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you. ⁸Be sober-minded and alert. Your adversary the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. ⁹Resist him, standing firm in your faith and in the knowledge that your brothers throughout the world are undergoing the same kinds of suffering.

³Do nothing out of selfish ambition or empty pride, but in humility consider others more important than yourselves. ⁴Each of you should look not only to your own interests, but also to the interests of others. ⁵Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus: ⁶Who, existing in the form of God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, ⁷but emptied Himself, taking the form of a servant, being made in human likeness. ⁸And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to death—even death on a cross.

⁵Young men, in the same way, submit yourselves to your elders. And all of you, clothe yourselves with humility toward one another, because, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” ⁶Humble yourselves, therefore, under God’s mighty hand, so that in due time He may exalt you. ⁷Cast all your anxiety on Him, because He cares for you.