Paraphrase on the Book of Job, Chapter 41
CHAP. XLI.
1. HAving thus showne thee, the Elephant1. Canst thou draw out Leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord, which thou lettest down? by land, now in the next place consider well the Whale (or some such extraordinary fish) by Sea. Canst thou angle for him, catch him, and draw him on shoare with a line, and hooke, as thou dost other lesser Fishes?
2. Hast thou strength to over-master2. Canst thou put an hooke into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn? him & ring him like a Swine or a Beare, or canst thou rule him so as to suffer himselfe to be led by the nose, as Beares, and some such beasts as thou hast tamed doe?
3 Will hee lie down like a Spaniel at3. Will he make many supplications unto thee? will hee speake soft words unto thee? thy command, and wag his taile to fawn upon thee?
4. Will hee put himselfe into thy service4. Will he make a covenant with thee? wilt thou take him for a servant for ever? for hay, and corne, as other creatures, and wilt thou undertake to command and imploy him, like them, upon all thy affaires, and to doe thy businesses?
5. Canst thou handle him like a Sparrow,5. Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? wilt thou bind him for thy maidens? or tame him so that thy maides may play with him without feare?
6. Shall the fishermen who joyne in6. Shall the companions make a banquet of him? shall they part him among the merchants? company and partnership, catch him in their nets like other fishes, and for joy of such a draught feast themselves and make merry with him; shall they merchandize him, shall they share and trade away the severall commodities which he yeelds of whale-bone and oile, &c.
7. Is his skinne penetrable like other7. Canst thou fill his skinne with barbed irons? or his head with fish spears? fishes, so that thou canst take him with such tooles and fishing instruments as thou takest them?
8. Draw neere and offer but the least8. Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battell, do no more. violence to him if thou darest, and hee'll quickly make thee repent it, so that thou wilt have little joy to fight it out with him.
9. For certaine hee is a creature that9. Behold, the hope of him is in vaine: shall not one be cast down, even at the sight of him? man hath small hopes to bring under his dominion and make serviceable, who is so formidable, that noe man dare attempt it, for his very sight a farre off is able to scarre a man from venturing on him.
10. Who is he that dare provoke him,10. None is so fierce that dare stirre him up: who then is able to stand before me? or that hath the courage to encounter him? not one, and if so, then how dare any attempt the like towards mee and thinke to prevaile, or not miscarry, who am the Creator, and he but my creature?
11. Who hath been aid full to me in the11. Who hath prevented me that I should repay him? whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine. creation, or who hath made any of my creatures for me, that I may acknowledge it and be thankefull to him for it, is not every creature that thou seest or knowest in the land and sea, of what might or strength soever they be, is hee not mine, and have not I made him? what manner of apprehension then ought men to have of mee, and with what feare ought they to reverence me?
12. Yea, this great Leviathan is of12. I will not conceale his parts; nor his power, nor his comely proportion. my making, which I will yet further anatomize and set forth unto thee; for I would have thee consider him well in his extraordinary qualities, strength and lineaments, that so thou maiest learne to know thy distance with God.
13. Who can handle him like a horse,13. Who can discover the face of his garment? or who can come to him with his double bridle? to bring him out of the sea to view him, as a horse out of a stable? Who will undertake, or dare, to tame and halter him with all the strength and skill hee hath?
14. Who dare looke into his mouth,14. Who can open the doores of his face? his teeth are terrible round about. as in a horses, when you buy him, which is like a paire of two leaved doores for widenesse; or force a bit betweene his teeth, which are so monstrous great and terrible on both sides his mouth?
15. His scales are like so many glistering15. His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seale. shields wherein he puts his confidence, and takes his pride, which are so closed and put together, like paper sealed with waxe, as that nothing can part them.
16. Yea, there is such a juncture, as16. One is so neere to another, that no aire can come betweene them. that nothing can goe betweene, no, not the thin and subtile aire, which yet pierceth the pores of all other things.
17. They are lapt one over another17. They are joyned one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundred. like tiles on a house, but so close, and stick so fast together, that neither sword nor speare can pierce him.
18. His forcible snortings which he18. By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eye-lids of the morning. utters in his courage, causeth, as it were, fire to breake out at his nose and eyes, which whensoever they are seen above water, appeare as the breaking out of the Sunne in the morning.
19. He breatheth out of his mouth a19. Out of his mouth goe burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out. strong sulphurous vapour, inkindled in him from the strength and heate of nature, which inflameth his breath like fire.
20. Out of the two holes of his head20. Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron. whereat hee breaths out, and takes in aire in stead of nostrills, he sends thence such vapour of smoke, as if it did rise out of a great boiling caldron.
21. His breath is of that nature by21. His breath kindleth coales, and a flame goeth out of his mouth. reason of his hot and fiery constitution, that it is able to kindle coales, and warme like fire.
22. He is infinitly strong and able to22. In his necke remaineth strength, and sorrow is turned into joy before him. beare downe whatsoever hee shall encounter, nor feares hee an enemy, but takes pleasure to warre with any, joying thereby to put forth his strength and cherish his pride.
23. And as are his scales without, so23. The flakes of his flesh are joined together: they are firme in themselves, they cannot be moved. is his flesh within, firme, solid, and compact in thicke and mighty flakes.
24. Hee is not timerous like other24. His heart is as firme as a stone, yea, as hard as a piece of the nether milstone. creatures, his heart is as uncapable of feare as a stone, yea, as impenetrable by any such passion as is the nethermost milstone.
25. When as hee shewes himselfe25. When he raiseth up himselfe, the mighty are afraid: by reason of breakings they purifie themselves. upon the surface of the water, hee affrights the most couragious warriour, yea, with his fierce and violent motion in the sea, wherewith he makes his way, breaking through waves, and sending up foame, he makes the stoutest betake themselves to make peace with God, and beg pardon for their sins, concluding death unavoidably to be at hand.
26. If any man be so hardy to strike26. The sword of him that layeth at him cannot hold: the speare, the dart, nor the habergeon. him, his sword will fly in pieces, his scales are so impenetrable, that neither sword nor speare, nor dart, nor indeed any other instrument of warre can wound him.
27. He sets as much by iron, or any27. He esteemeth iron as straw, and brasse as rotten wood. weapon that is made thereof, as a man does by a straw; and so by brasse, as a man does by rotten sticks, which he can snap in pieces at his pleasure.
28. He cares not for a whole showre28. The arrow cannot make him flie: slingstones are turned with him into stubble. of arrowes shot at him, nor for never so many stones, be they never so strongly slung; they fall at his feet, and are no more to him than the stuble which a man treads upon.
29. Darts, though throwne at him29. Darts are counted as stubble, he laugheth at the shaking of the speare. never so thicke, are no more esteemed and cared for by him, than a man respects dried straw; he feares no threatning a man can use towards him, the shaking of the speare appales not him a jot.
30. He rests himselfe upon the hard30. Sharpe stones are under him, he spreadeth sharpe-pointed things upon the mire. and sharpe-pointed stones of the rocke, and yet they never pierce him, but hee by his weight and strength breaks them off, and tumbles them downe into the bottome of the sea.
31. When he moves in his might, he31. Hee maketh the deepe to boile like a pot: hee maketh the sea like a pot of ointment. makes the Ocean to foame and to boile like a pot on the fire, he raiseth a thicke scum upon the face of the waters, as if the whole sea were a pot of ointment.
32. He raiseth such a white shining32. He maketh a path to shine after him, one would thinke the deepe to be hoary. foame all along as he swimmeth, and so changeth the colour of the water, that one would thinke a hoary frost covered the deep and wide sea.
33. I told thee before of Behemoth, 33. Upon earth there is not his like: who is made without feare.but this is farre beyond him, the whole earth hath not the like creature upon it for a dreadlesse spirit.
34. In his own conceite he so exalts34. He beholdeth all high things; hee is a king over all the children of pride. himselfe, that through the confidence of his strength and hight of his spirit hee scornfully opinionates even the mightest and greatest monsters by Sea and Land to bee inferiour to him, and beleeveth himselfe, as indeed he is, for might and power, to be the supreame of all elementary creatures how ever excellent.