CHAPTER 41
1Whoever might vainly hope to do so
need only see him to be overthrown.
2No one is fierce enough to arouse him;
who then dares stand before me?
3Whoever has assailed me, I will pay back—
Everything under the heavens is mine.
4I need hardly mention his limbs,
his strength, and the fitness of his equipment.
5Who can strip off his outer garment,
or penetrate his double armor?
6Who can force open the doors of his face,
close to his terrible teeth?
7Rows of scales are on his back,
tightly sealed together;
8They are fitted so close to each other
that no air can come between them;
9So joined to one another
that they hold fast and cannot be parted.
10When he sneezes, light flashes forth;
his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.
11Out of his mouth go forth torches;
sparks of fire leap forth.
12From his nostrils comes smoke
as from a seething pot or bowl.
13His breath sets coals afire;
a flame comes from his mouth.
14Strength abides in his neck,
and power leaps before him.
15The folds of his flesh stick together,
it is cast over him and immovable.
16His heart is cast as hard as stone;
cast as the lower millstone.
17When he rises up, the gods are afraid;
when he crashes down, they fall back.
18Should a sword reach him, it will not avail;
nor will spear, dart, or javelin.
19He regards iron as chaff,
and bronze as rotten wood.
20No arrow will put him to flight;
slingstones used against him are but straw.
21Clubs he regards as straw;
he laughs at the crash of the spear.
22Under him are sharp pottery fragments,
spreading a threshing sledge upon the mire.
23He makes the depths boil like a pot;
he makes the sea like a perfume bottle.
24Behind him he leaves a shining path;
you would think the deep had white hair.
25Upon the earth there is none like him,
he was made fearless.
26He looks over all who are haughty,
he is king over all proud beasts.
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