Job 40:6-41:34 :: NLT
  Then the LORD answered Job from the whirlwind:
Brace yourself, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them. Are you going to discredit my justice and condemn me so you can say you are right? Are you as strong as God, and can you thunder with a voice like his? All right then, put on your robes of state, your majesty and splendor. Give vent to your anger. Let it overflow against the proud. Humiliate the proud with a glance; walk on the wicked where they stand. Bury them in the dust. Imprison them in the world of the dead. Then even I would praise you, for your own strength would save you.
 
  Take a look at the mighty hippopotamus. I made it, just as I made you. It eats grass like an ox. See its powerful loins and the muscles of its belly. Its tail is as straight as a cedar. The sinews of its thighs are tightly knit together. Its bones are tubes of bronze. Its limbs are bars of iron. It is a prime example of God's amazing handiwork. Only its Creator can threaten it. The mountains offer it their best food, where all the wild animals play. It lies down under the lotus plants, hidden by the reeds. The lotus plants give it shade among the willows beside the stream. It is not disturbed by raging rivers, not even when the swelling Jordan rushes down upon it. No one can catch it off guard or put a ring in its nose and lead it away.
 
  Can you catch a crocodile with a hook or put a noose around its jaw? Can you tie it with a rope through the nose or pierce its jaw with a spike? Will it beg you for mercy or implore you for pity? Will it agree to work for you? Can you make it be your slave for life? Can you make it a pet like a bird, or give it to your little girls to play with? Will merchants try to buy it? Will they sell it in their shops? Will its hide be hurt by darts, or its head by a harpoon? If you lay a hand on it, you will never forget the battle that follows, and you will never try it again!
 
  No, it is useless to try to capture it. The hunter who attempts it will be thrown down. And since no one dares to disturb the crocodile, who would dare to stand up to me? Who will confront me and remain safe? Everything under heaven is mine.
 
  I want to emphasize the tremendous strength in the crocodile's limbs and throughout its enormous frame. Who can strip off its hide, and who can penetrate its double layer of armor? Who could pry open its jaws? For its teeth are terrible! The overlapping scales on its back make a shield. They are close together so no air can get between them. They lock together so nothing can penetrate them.
 
  When it sneezes, it flashes light! Its eyes are like the red of dawn. Fire and sparks leap from its mouth. Smoke streams from its nostrils like steam from a boiling pot on a fire of dry rushes. Yes, its breath would kindle coals, for flames shoot from its mouth.
 
  The tremendous strength in its neck strikes terror wherever it goes. Its flesh is hard and firm, not soft and fat. Its heart is as hard as rock, as hard as a millstone. When it rises, the mighty are afraid, gripped by terror. No sword can stop it, nor spear nor dart nor pointed shaft. To the crocodile, iron is nothing but straw, and bronze is rotten wood. Arrows cannot make it flee. Stones shot from a sling are as ineffective as straw. Clubs do no good, and it laughs at the swish of the javelins. Its belly is covered with scales as sharp as glass. They tear up the ground as it drags through the mud.
 
  The crocodile makes the water boil with its commotion. It churns the depths. The water glistens in its wake. One would think the sea had turned white. There is nothing else so fearless anywhere on earth. Of all the creatures, it is the proudest. It is the king of beasts.