# Job 41.1

<!-- type: passage | created: 2026-05-06 | updated: 2026-05-06 -->

**Book:** [Job](/codex/job/) · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

## Immediate context (±2 verses)

**ASV** ([ASV](/codex/asv/))
> **1. Canst thou draw out leviathan with a fishhook? Or press down his tongue with a cord?**
>
> 2. Canst thou put a rope into his nose? Or pierce his jaw through with a hook? 3. Will he make many supplications unto thee? Or will he speak soft words unto thee? (Job 41:1-3, ASV)

**WEB** ([WEB](/codex/web/))
> **1. “Can you draw out Leviathan with a fish hook, or press down his tongue with a cord?**
>
> 2. Can you put a rope into his nose, or pierce his jaw through with a hook? 3. Will he make many petitions to you, or will he speak soft words to you? (Job 41:1-3, WEB)

**KJV** ([KJV](/codex/kjv/))
> **1. Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down? <sup>leviathan: That is, a whale or a whirlepoole</sup> <sup>which: Heb. which thou drownest?</sup>**
>
> 2. Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn? 3. Will he make many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft words unto thee? (Job 41:1-3, KJV)

**YLT** ([YLT](/codex/ylt/))
> **1. Dost thou draw leviathan with an angle? And with a rope thou lettest down, his tongue?**
>
> 2. Dost thou put a reed in his nose? And with a thorn pierce his jaw? 3. Doth he multiply unto thee supplications? Doth he speak unto thee tender things? (Job 41:1-3, YLT)

## Setting

- **Speaker:** narrator + Job + friends + LORD (multi-voiced dialogue)
- **Audience:** wisdom-tradition Israel
- **Location:** land of Uz (Edomite region)
- **Time period:** events possibly patriarchal-era; composed unclear, likely c. 1500-500 BC

## Theological reading

## Key words

_No Strong's-tagged lexicon matches found in this passage. (Lexicon coverage is curated, ~159 of the most apologetically-loaded Greek/Hebrew terms.)_

## Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the **most literal English translations available** (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the **public domain in the United States**, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

- **[ASV](/codex/asv/)** (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
- **[WEB](/codex/web/)** (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
- **[KJV](/codex/kjv/)** (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
- **[YLT](/codex/ylt/)** (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See [Bibles](/codex/bibles/) for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.

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## Quoted in

**Concepts:**

- [Spirit of Leviathan](/codex/spirit-of-leviathan/)

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