Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?
Parallel translations
- WEB Can you put a rope into his nose, or pierce his jaw through with a hook?
- KJV Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn?
- NKJV Can you put a reed through his nose, Or pierce his jaw with a hook?
- NASB “Can you put a rope in his nose, And pierce his jaw with a hook?
- NLT Can you tie it with a rope through the nose or pierce its jaw with a spike?
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
God asks if Job can put a rope in Leviathan's nose or pierce his jaw with a hook. The creature cannot be led or handled like tamed livestock.
Overview
Continuing the challenge, God pictures the impossibility of leading Leviathan about as one would a domesticated animal. The imagery of ropes and hooks underscores man's helplessness before this beast. The point presses upon Job: a creature he cannot subdue is itself subject to God, who therefore reigns over all. Job must yield to the Creator's supremacy.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Isa 37:29Because your rage and arrogance against Me have reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will send you back the way you came.’
- Ezek 29:4–5But I will put hooks in your jaws and cause the fish of your streams to cling to your scales. I will haul you up out of your rivers, and all the fish of your streams will cling to your scales.
- 2 Kgs 19:28Because your rage and arrogance against Me have reached My ears, I will put My hook in your nose and My bit in your mouth; I will send you back the way you came.’
- Isa 27:1In 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.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 41:2 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.