ESTUDIO DEL CAPÍTULO
Job 41 — God Describes Leviathan
God describes Leviathan as an ungovernable creature to show Job the limits of human power and the unmatched sovereignty of the Creator.
Escritura
- 1.¿Sacarás tú al leviatán con anzuelo, O con cuerda que le eches en su lengua?Canst thou draw out leviathan with a fishhook? Or press down his tongue with a cord?
- 2.¿Pondrás tú soga en sus narices, Y horadarás con garfio su quijada?Canst thou put a rope into his nose? Or pierce his jaw through with a hook?
- 3.¿Multiplicará él ruegos para contigo? ¿Te hablará él lisonjas?Will he make many supplications unto thee? Or will he speak soft words unto thee?
- 4.¿Hará pacto contigo Para que lo tomes por siervo perpetuo?Will he make a covenant with thee, That thou shouldest take him for a servant for ever?
- 5.¿Jugarás con él como con pájaro, O lo atarás para tus niñas?Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? Or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens?
- 6.¿Harán de él banquete los compañeros? ¿Lo repartirán entre los mercaderes?Will the bands of fishermen make traffic of him? Will they part him among the merchants?
- 7.¿Cortarás tú con cuchillo su piel, O con arpón de pescadores su cabeza?Canst thou fill his skin with barbed irons, Or his head with fish - spears?
- 8.Pon tu mano sobre él; Te acordarás de la batalla, y nunca más volverás.Lay thy hand upon him; Remember the battle, and do so no more.
- 9.He aquí que la esperanza acerca de él será burlada, Porque aun a su sola vista se desmayarán.Behold, the hope of him is in vain: Will not one be cast down even at the sight of him?
- 10.Nadie hay tan osado que lo despierte; ¿Quién, pues, podrá estar delante de mí?None is so fierce that he dare stir him up; Who then is he that can stand before me?
- 11.¿Quién me ha dado a mí primero, para que yo restituya? Todo lo que hay debajo del cielo es mío.Who hath first given unto me, that I should repay him? Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine.
- 12.No guardaré silencio sobre sus miembros, Ni sobre sus fuerzas y la gracia de su disposición.I will not keep silence concerning his limbs, Nor his mighty strength, nor his goodly frame.
- 13.¿Quién descubrirá la delantera de su vestidura? ¿Quién se acercará a él con su freno doble?Who can strip off his outer garment? Who shall come within his jaws?
- 14.¿Quién abrirá las puertas de su rostro? Las hileras de sus dientes espantan.Who can open the doors of his face? Round about his teeth is terror.
- 15.La gloria de su vestido son escudos fuertes, Cerrados entre sí estrechamente.His strong scales are his pride, Shut up together as with a close seal.
- 16.El uno se junta con el otro, Que viento no entra entre ellos.One is so near to another, That no air can come between them.
- 17.Pegado está el uno con el otro; Están trabados entre sí, que no se pueden apartar.They are joined one to another; They stick together, so that they cannot be sundered.
- 18.Con sus estornudos enciende lumbre, Y sus ojos son como los párpados del alba.His sneezings flash forth light, And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
- 19.De su boca salen hachones de fuego; Centellas de fuego proceden.Out of his mouth go burning torches, And sparks of fire leap forth.
- 20.De sus narices sale humo, Como de una olla o caldero que hierve.Out of his nostrils a smoke goeth, As of a boiling pot and burning rushes.
- 21.Su aliento enciende los carbones, Y de su boca sale llama.His breath kindleth coals, And a flame goeth forth from his mouth.
- 22.En su cerviz está la fuerza, Y delante de él se esparce el desaliento.In his neck abideth strength, And terror danceth before him.
- 23.Las partes más flojas de su carne están endurecidas; Están en él firmes, y no se mueven.The flakes of his flesh are joined together: They are firm upon him; They cannot be moved.
- 24.Su corazón es firme como una piedra, Y fuerte como la muela de abajo.His heart is as firm as a stone; Yea, firm as the nether millstone.
- 25.De su grandeza tienen temor los fuertes, Y a causa de su desfallecimiento hacen por purificarse.When he raiseth himself up, the mighty are afraid: By reason of consternation they are beside themselves.
- 26.Cuando alguno lo alcanzare, Ni espada, ni lanza, ni dardo, ni coselete durará.If one lay at him with the sword, it cannot avail; Nor the spear, the dart, nor the pointed shaft.
- 27.Estima como paja el hierro, Y el bronce como leño podrido.He counteth iron as straw, And brass as rotten wood.
- 28.Saeta no le hace huir; Las piedras de honda le son como paja.The arrow cannot make him flee: Sling-stones are turned with him into stubble.
- 29.Tiene toda arma por hojarasca, Y del blandir de la jabalina se burla.Clubs are counted as stubble: He laugheth at the rushing of the javelin.
- 30.Por debajo tiene agudas conchas; Imprime su agudez en el suelo.His underparts are like sharp potsherds: He spreadeth as it were a threshing-wain upon the mire.
- 31.Hace hervir como una olla el mar profundo, Y lo vuelve como una olla de ungüento.He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: He maketh the sea like a pot of ointment.
- 32.En pos de sí hace resplandecer la senda, Que parece que el abismo es cano.He maketh a path to shine after him; One would think the deep to be hoary.
- 33.No hay sobre la tierra quien se le parezca; Animal hecho exento de temor.Upon earth there is not his like, That is made without fear.
- 34.Menosprecia toda cosa alta; Es rey sobre todos los soberbios.He beholdeth everything that is high: He is king over all the sons of pride.
Qué significa este pasaje
Job 41 forms the climax of God's second speech (chs. 40–41). Where Behemoth in chapter 40 showed a creature that Job can at least observe, Leviathan is presented as utterly untamable: no hook, rope, harpoon, or weapon can subdue him (vv. 1–9, 26–29). The catalogue of its body — sealed scales (vv. 15–17), fire-breathing mouth (vv. 18–21), stone-hard heart (v. 24) — is less zoology than theology. The creature is described as 'king over all the sons of pride' (v. 34), a title that deliberately echoes the battle with pride that frames Job's whole trial.
The pivot of the chapter is the aside in verse 11: 'Who hath first given unto me, that I should repay him? Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine.' God stops describing Leviathan long enough to ask Job the same question he asked earlier in 38:2–3. The point is not taxonomy but sovereignty. If Job cannot master a creature, how much less can he summon the Creator to court or demand answers from him?
Verses 12–34 then return to the portrait of Leviathan to drive the point home. Every weapon is 'as straw' (vv. 27–29); even the mighty are terrified (v. 25). The chapter deliberately builds toward v. 34: Leviathan itself 'beholdeth everything that is high' and rules over the proud. The implied message is that pride — the 'sons of pride' — belongs to God's domain, and any creature, however fearsome, is only what the Creator made it to be.
Contexto
Job 41 sits inside God's second speech to Job out of the whirlwind (40:6–41:34), which itself answers Job's demand to argue with God (chs. 9–13, 23, 31). After the introductory 'Gird up thy loins' (40:7) and the question 'Wilt thou condemn me?' (40:8), God points to Behemoth (40:15–24) and then Leviathan (chs. 40:25–41:34 in the Hebrew division) as observable realities that put human pretensions in their place. Job 42:1–6 records Job's response.
The chapter also connects to a wider Old Testament stream of passages that speak of leviathan as the fearsome sea-creature under God's control. Among the cross references provided, Job 3:8 names those who 'rouse up leviathan'; Psalms 74:14 and 104:26 place leviathan in God's hands as either broken or playful; Isaiah 27:1 envisions the Lord punishing 'leviathan the swift serpent.' These parallels frame leviathan in Job not as a moral allegory invented by later readers but as part of Israel's existing vocabulary about untamed power.
Palabras clave del original
- H8431 תּוֹחֶלֶת (tōḥelet), 'hope' or 'expectation', appears in v. 9: 'the hope of him is in vain.' The word underscores that any human hope of capturing leviathan collapses the moment it is formed.
- H2790 חָרֵשׁ (ḥārēsh), used in v. 12 as 'I will not keep silence,' is a verb meaning to be silent or to let alone. God's refusal to be silent about leviathan turns the creature into a vehicle for divine self-disclosure.
- H5782 עוּר (ʿûr), 'to rouse,' appears in v. 10 in 'Who then is he that can stand before me?' within the warning that no one dares stir leviathan up. The same root is used of the would-be cursers of the day in Job 3:8, tying the two passages together.
Versículos relacionados
- Romans 11:35 Paul echoes Job 41:11 in his great doxology: no one has first given to God so as to put God in debt. Job's chapter and Romans 11 together undercut any notion that creatures can claim a balance against the Creator.
- Psalms 24:1 David's claim 'The earth is Jehovah's, and the fulness thereof' is the same confession Job 41:11 makes: 'Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine.' Both texts root the created order in divine ownership, not in human control.
- Isaiah 27:1 Isaiah envisions the Lord punishing 'leviathan the swift serpent' with his sword. This future-tense vision places leviathan, the creature of Job 41, within a larger biblical storyline in which even untamed sea-power is finally subject to divine judgment.
Preguntas frecuentes
Is leviathan a real animal, a mythological creature, or a symbol of something else?
The chapter never settles the question. It describes leviathan with naturalistic detail (scales, heart, breath) yet assigns it the title 'king over all the sons of pride' in v. 34, blurring the line between creature and figure. Honest readers differ: some see an ancient crocodile-like creature elevated into poetry, others see a symbolic figure of untamable pride, and the text itself does not decide between them.
Why does God answer Job with an animal instead of a philosophical explanation?
Job's complaint was that God was unfair and unaccountable (chs. 9, 23, 31). A theodicy would only repeat the argument at a higher altitude. By pointing to a creature Job cannot master, God confronts him with the gap between Job's claims and the actual scope of creaturely power. The chapter teaches less by arguing than by displaying.
Does Job 41 teach anything about the nature of evil or the devil?
Nothing in the chapter identifies leviathan with Satan or with evil personified. The chapter uses leviathan as a discourse about power and pride within God's creation, not as a portrait of the devil. Reading leviathan as a coded devil relies on extra-biblical tradition rather than the text of Job 41 itself.