None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me?
Parallel translations
- WEB None is so fierce that he dare stir him up. Who then is he who can stand before me?
- BSB No one is so fierce as to rouse Leviathan. Then who is able to stand against 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 9:4He is wise in heart, and mighty in strength: who hath hardened himself against him, and hath prospered?
- Num 24:9He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion: who shall stir him up? Blessed is he that blesseth thee, and cursed is he that curseth thee.
- Gen 49:9Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?
- Ps 2:11–12Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
- Job 3:8Let them curse it that curse the day, who are ready to raise up their mourning.
- 1 Cor 10:22Do we provoke the Lord to jealousy? are we stronger than he?
- Job 40:9Hast thou an arm like God? or canst thou thunder with a voice like him?
- Jer 12:5If thou hast run with the footmen, and they have wearied thee, then how canst thou contend with horses? and if in the land of peace, wherein thou trustedst, they wearied thee, then how wilt thou do in the swelling of Jordan?
- Ezek 8:17–18Then he said unto me, Hast thou seen this, O son of man? Is it a light thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations which they commit here? for they have filled the land with violence, and have returned to provoke me to anger: and, lo, they put 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.