No one is so fierce as to rouse Leviathan. Then who is able to stand against Me?
Parallel translations
- WEB None is so fierce that he dare stir him up. Who then is he who can stand before me?
- KJV None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me?
- NKJV No one is so fierce that he would dare stir him up. Who then is able to stand against Me?
- NASB “No one is so reckless that he dares to stir him; Who then is he who opposes Me?
- NLT And since no one dares to disturb it, who then can stand up to me?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
No one is fierce enough to rouse Leviathan, so who then can stand before God? The argument moves from the creature's terror to the Creator's supremacy.
Overview
If no one dares stir up Leviathan, the question follows with crushing force: who then can stand before God himself? This is the heart of the Leviathan speech. The terror of the creature serves to magnify the incomparable majesty of its Maker. Job, who longed to confront God, is brought to see that no creature can presume to stand against the Almighty, and must instead bow in reverent trust.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Job 9:4God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has resisted Him and prospered?
- Num 24:9He crouches, he lies down like a lion; like a lioness, who dares to rouse him? Blessed are those who bless you and cursed are those who curse you.”
- Gen 49:9Judah is a young lion—my son, you return from the prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness, who dares to rouse him?
- Ps 2:11–12Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
- Job 3:8May it be cursed by those who curse the day—those prepared to rouse Leviathan.
- 1 Cor 10:22Are we trying to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?
- Job 40:9Do you have an arm like God’s? Can you thunder with a voice like His?
- Jer 12:5“If you have raced with men on foot and they have worn you out, how can you compete with horses? If you stumble in a peaceful land, how will you do in the thickets of the Jordan?
- Ezek 8:17–18“Son of man,” He said to me, “do you see this? Is it not enough for the house of Judah to commit the abominations they are practicing here, that they must also fill the land with violence and continually provoke Me to anger? Look, they are even putting the branch to their nose!
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 41:10 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.