Leviathan and Behemoth

(25) Can you draw out Leviathan by a fishhook?
Can you press down his tongue by a rope? (26) Can you put a ring through his nose,
Or pierce his jaw with a barb? (27) Will he plead with you at length?
Will he speak soft words to you? (28) Will he make an agreement with you
To be taken as your lifelong slave? (29) Will you play with him like a bird,
And tie him down for your girls? (30) Shall traders traffic in him?^-a
Will he be divided up among merchants? (31) Can you fill his skin with darts
Or his head with fish-spears? (32) Lay a hand on him,
And you will never think of battle again. (1) See, any hope [of capturing] him must be disappointed;
One is prostrated by the very sight of him. (2) There is no one so fierce as to rouse him;
Who then can stand up to Me? (3) Whoever confronts Me I will requite,
For everything under the heavens is Mine. (4) I will not be silent concerning him
Or the praise of his martial exploits.^-a (5) Who can uncover his outer garment?
Who can penetrate the folds of his jowls? (6) Who can pry open the doors of his face?
His bared teeth strike terror. (7) His protective scales are his pride,
Locked with a binding seal. (8) One scale touches the other;
Not even a breath can enter between them. (9) Each clings to each;
They are interlocked so they cannot be parted. (10) His sneezings flash lightning,
And his eyes are like the glimmerings of dawn. (11) Firebrands stream from his mouth;
Fiery sparks escape. (12) Out of his nostrils comes smoke
As from a steaming, boiling cauldron. (13) His breath ignites coals;
Flames blaze from his mouth. (14) Strength resides in his neck;
Power leaps before him. (15) The layers of his flesh stick together;
He is as though cast hard; he does not totter. (16) His heart is cast hard as a stone,
Hard as the nether millstone. (17) Divine beings are in dread as he rears up;
As he crashes down, they cringe. (18) No sword that overtakes him can prevail,
Nor spear, nor missile, nor lance. (19) He regards iron as straw,
Bronze, as rotted wood. (20) No arrow can put him to flight;
Slingstones turn into stubble for him. (21) Clubs are regarded as stubble;
He scoffs at the quivering javelin. (22) His underpart is jagged shards;
It spreads a threshing-sledge on the mud. (23) He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron;
He makes the sea [boil] like an ointment-pot. (24) His wake is a luminous path;
He makes the deep seem white-haired. (25) There is no one on land who can dominate him,
Made as he is without fear. (26) He sees all that is haughty;
He is king over all proud beasts.

(21) God created the great sea monsters (taninim), and all the living creatures of every kind that creep, which the waters brought forth in swarms, and all the winged birds of every kind. And God saw that this was good.

(3) Speak these words:
Thus said the Lord GOD:
I am going to deal with you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt,
Mighty tanin, sprawling in your channels,
Who said, My Nile is my own;
I made it for myself.

(4) I will put hooks in your jaws,
And make the fish of your channels
Cling to your scales;
I will haul you up from your channels,
With all the fish of your channels
Clinging to your scales.

(7) Praise the LORD, O you who are on earth, all taninim and ocean depths,

(33) Their wine is the venom of taninim, The pitiless poison of vipers.

(15) Take now behemoth, whom I made as I did you; He eats grass, like the cattle.

(16) His strength is in his loins,
His might in the muscles of his belly.

(17) He makes his tail stand up^-a like a cedar;
The sinews of his thighs are knit together. (18) His bones are like tubes of bronze,
His limbs like iron rods. (19) He is the first of God’s works;
Only his Maker can draw the sword against him. (20) The mountains yield him produce,
Where all the beasts of the field play. (21) He lies down beneath the lotuses,
In the cover of the swamp reeds. (22) The lotuses embower him with shade;
The willows of the brook surround him. (23) He can restrain the river from its rushing;
He is confident the stream will gush at his command. (24) Can he be taken by his eyes?
Can his nose be pierced by hooks?

(4) On the sixth day He brought forth from the earth a beast (Behemoth) which lies stretched out on a thousand hills and every day has its pasture on a thousand hills, and overnight (the verdure) grows of its own account as though he had not touched it, as it is said, "Surely the mountains bring him forth food" (Job 40:20). The waters of the Jordan give him water to drink, for the waters of the Jordan surround all the earth, half thereof (flow) above the earth and the other half below the earth, as it is said, "He is confident, though Jordan swell even to his mouth" (Job 40:23). This (creature) is destined for the day of sacrifice, for the great banquet of the righteous, as it is said, "He only that made him can make his sword to approach unto him" (Job 40:19).

Rabbi Yoḥanan says: This is leviathan the slant serpent, and leviathan the tortuous serpent, as it is stated: “In that day the Lord with His sore and great and strong sword will punish leviathan the slant serpent, and leviathan the tortuous serpent” (Isaiah 27:1). § The Gemara provides a mnemonic for the following statements of Rav Yehuda citing Rav: Everything; time; Jordan. Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: Everything that the Holy One, Blessed be He, created in His world, He created male and female. Even leviathan the slant serpent and leviathan the tortuous serpent He created male and female. And if they would have coupled and produced offspring, they would have destroyed the entire world. What did the Holy One, Blessed be He, do? He castrated the male and killed the female, and salted the female to preserve it for the banquet for the righteous in the future. As it is stated: “And He will slay the serpent that is in the sea” (Isaiah 27:1).

And He created even the Behemoths on the thousand hills (see Psalms 50:10) male and female. And they were so enormous that if they would have coupled and produced offspring, they would have destroyed the entire world. What did the Holy One, Blessed be He, do? He castrated the male and cooled the sexual desire of the female and preserved it for the righteous in the future. As it is stated about the beasts: “Lo now, his strength is in his loins” (Job 40:16); this is referring to the male. The continuation of the verse: “And his force is in the stays of his body”; this is the female,

When Rav Dimi came from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia he said that Rabbi Yonatan says: In the future, Gabriel will perform a hunt of the leviathan, as it is stated: “Can you draw out leviathan with a fish hook? Or press down his tongue with a cord?” (Job 40:25). And were the Holy One, Blessed be He, not assisting Gabriel, he would not be able to hunt it, as it is stated: “Only He Who made him can use His sword to approach him” (Job 40:19).

When Rav Dimi came from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia, he said that Rabbi Yoḥanan said: When the leviathan is hungry, he produces breath from his mouth and thereby boils all of the waters in the depths of the sea. As it is stated: “He makes the deep boil like a pot” (Job 41:23). And if the leviathan did not place its head in the Garden of Eden, no creature could withstand his foul smell,

And Rabba says that Rabbi Yoḥanan says: In the future, the Holy One, Blessed be He, will prepare a sukka for the righteous from the skin of the leviathan, as it is stated: “Can you fill his skin with barbed irons [besukkot]” (Job 40:31). If one is deserving of being called righteous, an entire sukka is prepared for him from the skin of the leviathan; if one is not deserving of this honor, a covering is prepared for his head, as it is stated: “Or his head with fish-spears” (Job 40:31). If one is deserving at least of this reward, a covering is prepared for him, and if one is not deserving, a necklace is prepared for him, as it is stated: “And necklaces about your neck” (Proverbs 1:9). If one is somewhat deserving, a necklace is prepared for him, and if one is not deserving even of this, only an amu-let is prepared for him from the skin of the leviathan, as it is stated: “Or will you bind him for your maidens” (Job 40:29), i.e., a small amulet is prepared for him, like the amulets tied on children’s necks. And with regard to the remaining part of the skin of the leviathan, the Holy One, Blessed be He, spreads it on the walls of Jerusalem, and its glory radiates from one end of the world until the other end. As it is stated: “And nations shall walk in your light, and kings at the brightness of your rising” (Isaiah 60:3). §