Bible Strands
Job 41:10
No one is so fierce as to rouse Leviathan. Then who is able to stand against Me?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses Job while describing the untamable nature of Leviathan. This declaration directly follows the statement that hoping to overcome the creature is false.
The words — אַכְזָר (ʾakhzār) translates literally as "fierce," emphasizing the creature's untamable character. יִתְיַצָּב (yittayyaṣṣāḇ) means "will he take his stand" or "will resist," framing the rhetorical challenge against God.
The thread — The motif of daring to rouse or stand against a sovereign power appears in Job 9:4, Genesis 49:9, and Numbers 24:9. These passages parallel the theme of divine or divinely appointed authority that cannot be successfully challenged.
Why it lands — The text states that no human force can provoke Leviathan, then immediately applies that impossibility to standing against God. It requires the reader to acknowledge the futility of contesting divine sovereignty or moral governance.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
None is so fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me?
Cross-references
- Job 9:4 God is wise in heart and mighty in strength. Who has resisted Him and prospered?
- Genesis 49:9 Judah 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?
- Numbers 24:9 He 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.”
- Job 3:8 May it be cursed by those who curse the day—those prepared to rouse Leviathan.
- Job 40:9 Do you have an arm like God’s? Can you thunder with a voice like His?
- Psalms 2:11 Serve the LORD with fear, and rejoice with trembling.
- Jeremiah 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?
- 1 Corinthians 10:22 Are we trying to provoke the Lord to jealousy? Are we stronger than He?
- Ezekiel 8:17 “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!