Leviathan - wikipedia Leviathan This article is about the biblical creature. For other uses, see Leviathan ( disambiguation ). The Destruction of Leviathan by Gustave Doré ( 1865 ) Leviathan ( / lɪˈvaɪ. əθən / ; Hebrew : לִוְיָתָן, Modern Livyatan, Tiberian Liwyāṯān ) is a sea monster referenced in the Hebrew Bible in the Book of Job, Psalms, and Isaiah. The Leviathan of the Book of Job is a reflection of the older Canaanite Lotan, a primeval monster defeated by the god Hadad. Parallels to the role of Mesopotamian Tiamat defeated by Marduk have long been drawn in comparative mythology, as have been wider comparisons to dragon and world serpent narratives such as Indra slaying Vrtra or Thor slaying Jörmungandr, but Leviathan already figures in the Hebrew Bible as a metaphor for a powerful enemy, notably Babylon ( Isaiah 27 : 1 ), and some scholars have pragmatically interpreted it as referring to large aquatic creatures, such as the crocodile. The word later came to be used as a term for `` great whale '' as well as of sea monsters in general. Contents 1 Etymology and origins 2 Hebrew Bible 3 Judaism 4 Christianity 5 Modern reception 5.1 Satanic Bible 6 See also 7 References 8 Bibliography 9 External links Etymology and origins See also : Lotan, Tannin ( monster ), Tiamat, Tehom, and Chaoskampf The name לִוְיָתָן is a derivation from the root לוה lvh `` to twine ; to join '', with an adjectival suffix ן -, with a literal meaning of `` wreathed, twisted in folds ''. Both the name and the mythological figure are a direct continuation of the Ugaritic sea monster Lôtān, one of the servants of the sea god Yammu defeated by Hadad in the Baal Cycle. The Ugaritic account has gaps, making it unclear whether some phrases describe him or other monsters at Yammu 's disposal such as Tunannu ( the Biblical Tannin ). Most scholars agree on describing Lôtān as `` the fugitive serpent '' ( bṯn brḥ ) but he may or may not be `` the wriggling serpent '' ( bṯn ʿqltn ) or `` the mighty one with seven heads '' ( šlyṭ d. šbʿt rašm ). His role seems to have been prefigured by the earlier serpent Têmtum whose death at the hands Hadad is depicted in Syrian seals of the 18th -- 16th century BCE. Sea serpents feature prominently in the mythology of the Ancient Near East. They are attested by the 3rd millennium BCE in Sumerian iconography depicting the god Ninurta overcoming a seven - headed serpent. It was common for Near Eastern religions to include a Chaoskampf : a cosmic battle between a sea monster representing the forces of chaos and a creator god or culture hero who imposes order by force. The Babylonian creation myth describes Marduk 's defeat of the serpent goddess Tiamat, whose body was used to create the heavens and the earth. Hebrew Bible The Leviathan is mentioned six times in the Tanakh, in Job 3 : 8, Job 40 : 15 -- 41 : 26, Amos 9 : 3, Psalm 74 : 13 -- 23, Psalm 104 : 26 and Isaiah 27 : 1. Job 41 : 1 -- 34 is dedicated to describing him in detail : `` Behold, the hope of him is in vain ; shall not one be cast down even at the sight of him ? '' In Psalm 74, God is said to `` break the heads of Leviathan in pieces '' before giving his flesh to the people of the wilderness. In Psalm 104, God is praised for having made all things, including Leviathan, and in Isaiah 27 : 1, he is called the `` tortuous serpent '' who will be killed at the end of time. The mention of the Tannins in the Genesis creation narrative ( translated as `` great whales '' in the King James Version ) and Leviathan in the Psalm do not describe them as harmful but as ocean creatures who are part of God 's creation. The element of competition between God and the sea monster and the use of Leviathan to describe the powerful enemies of Israel may reflect the influence of the Mesopotamian and Canaanite legends or the contest in Egyptian mythology between the Apep snake and the sun god Horus. Alternatively, the removal of such competition may have reflected an attempt to naturalize Leviathan in a process that demoted it from deity to demon to monster. Judaism Leviathan the sea - monster, with Behemoth the land - monster and Ziz the air - monster. `` And on that day were two monsters parted, a female monster named Leviathan, to dwell in the abysses of the ocean over the fountains of the waters. But the male is named Behemoth, who occupied with his breast a waste wilderness named Duidain. '' ( 1 Enoch 60 : 7 -- 8 ) Later Jewish sources describe Leviathan as a dragon who lives over the Sources of the Deep and who, along with the male land - monster Behemoth, will be served up to the righteous at the end of time. The Book of Enoch ( 60 : 7 -- 9 ) describes Leviathan as a female monster dwelling in the watery abyss ( as Tiamat ), while Behemoth is a male monster living in the desert of Dunaydin ( `` east of Eden '' ). When the Jewish midrash ( explanations of the Tanakh ) were being composed, it was held that God originally produced a male and a female leviathan, but lest in multiplying the species should destroy the world, he slew the female, reserving her flesh for the banquet that will be given to the righteous on the advent of the Messiah Rashi 's commentary on Genesis 1 : 21 repeats the tradition : `` Leviathan '' ( 1983 ) a painting by Michael Sgan - Cohen, the Israel Museum Collection, Jerusalem the... sea monsters : The great fish in the sea, and in the words of the Aggadah ( B.B. 74b ), this refers to the Leviathan and its mate, for He created them male and female, and He slew the female and salted her away for the righteous in the future, for if they would propagate, the world could not exist because of them. הַתַּנִינִם is written. ( I.e., the final `` yud, '' which denotes the plural, is missing, hence the implication that the Leviathan did not remain two, but that its number was reduced to one. ) -- ( from Gen. Rabbah 7 : 4, Midrash Chaseroth V'Yetheroth, Batei Midrashoth, vol 2, p. 225 ). In the Talmud Baba Bathra 75a it is told that the Leviathan will be slain and its flesh served as a feast to the righteous in ( the ) Time to Come, and its skin used to cover the tent where the banquet will take place. The festival of Sukkot ( Festival of Booths ) therefore concludes with a prayer recited upon leaving the sukkah ( booth ) : `` May it be your will, Lord our God and God of our forefathers, that just as I have fulfilled and dwelt in this sukkah, so may I merit in the coming year to dwell in the sukkah of the skin of Leviathan. Next year in Jerusalem. '' The enormous size of the Leviathan is described by Johanan bar Nappaha, from whom proceeded nearly all the aggadot concerning this monster : `` Once we went in a ship and saw a fish which put his head out of the water. He had horns upon which was written : ' I am one of the meanest creatures that inhabit the sea. I am three hundred miles in length, and enter this day into the jaws of the Leviathan ' ''. When the Leviathan is hungry, reports Rabbi Dimi in the name of Rabbi Johanan, he sends forth from his mouth a heat so great as to make all the waters of the deep boil, and if he would put his head into Paradise no living creature could endure the odor of him. His abode is the Mediterranean Sea ; and the waters of the Jordan fall into his mouth. In a legend recorded in the Midrash called Pirke de-Rabbi Eliezer it is stated that the fish which swallowed Jonah narrowly avoided being eaten by the Leviathan, which eats one whale each day. The body of the Leviathan, especially his eyes, possesses great illuminating power. This was the opinion of Rabbi Eliezer, who, in the course of a voyage in company with Rabbi Joshua, explained to the latter, when frightened by the sudden appearance of a brilliant light, that it probably proceeded from the eyes of the Leviathan. He referred his companion to the words of Job xli. 18 : `` By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning '' ( B.B. l.c. ). However, in spite of his supernatural strength, the leviathan is afraid of a small worm called `` kilbit '', which clings to the gills of large fish and kills them ( Shab. 77b ). In the eleventh century piyyut ( religious poem ), Akdamut, recited on Shavuot ( Pentecost ), it is envisioned that, ultimately, God will slaughter the Leviathan, which is described as having `` mighty fins '' ( and, therefore, a kosher fish, not an inedible snake or crocodile ), and it will be served as a sumptuous banquet for all the righteous in Heaven. Christianity Leviathan in the fresco The Last Judgment ; painted by Giacomo Rossignolo, c. 1555 Although Leviathan and Behemoth are not mentioned by name in the New Testament, they are alluded to in Revelation 13 where two kindred beasts rise up from the sea ( Leviathan ) and out of the earth ( Behemoth ). Leviathan can also be used as an image of Satan, endangering both God 's creatures -- by attempting to eat them -- and God 's creation -- by threatening it with upheaval in the waters of Chaos. St. Thomas Aquinas described Leviathan as the demon of envy, first in punishing the corresponding sinners ( Secunda Secundae Question 36 ). Peter Binsfeld likewise classified Leviathan as the demon of envy, as one of the seven Princes of Hell corresponding to the seven deadly sins. Leviathan became associated with, and may originally have referred to, the visual motif of the Hellmouth, a monstrous animal into whose mouth the damned disappear at the Last Judgement, found in Anglo - Saxon art from about 800, and later all over Europe. The Revised Standard Version of the Bible suggests in a footnote to Job 41 : 1 that Leviathan may be a name for the crocodile, and in a footnote to Job 40 : 15, that Behemoth may be a name for the hippopotamus. Young Earth Creationists have also identified Leviathan and Behemoth with dinosaurs. Modern reception The word Leviathan has come to refer to any sea monster, and from the early 17th century has also been used of overwhelmingly powerful people or things ( comparable to Behemoth or Juggernaut ), influentially so by Hobbes ' book ( 1651 ). As a term for sea monster, it has also been used of great whales in particular, e.g. in Herman Melville 's Moby - Dick. In Modern Hebrew, the word now simply means `` whale ''. Lord Tennyson wrote a sonnet, `` The Kraken '' ( 1830 ), which describes the massive creature that dwells at the bottom of the sea. Below the thunders of the upper deep ; Far far beneath in the abysmal sea, His ancient, dreamless, uninvaded sleep The Kraken sleepeth : faintest sunlights flee About his shadowy sides ; above him swell Huge sponges of millennial growth and height ; And far away into the sickly light, From many a wondrous grot and secret cell Unnumber 'd and enormous polypi Winnow with giant arms the slumbering green. There hath he lain for ages, and will lie Battening upon huge seaworms in his sleep, Until the latter fire shall heat the deep ; Then once by man and angels to be seen, In roaring he shall rise and on the surface die. Satanic Bible Anton Szandor LaVey in his Satanic Bible ( 1969 ) has Leviathan representing the element of Water and the direction of west, listing it as one of the Four Crown Princes of Hell. This association was inspired by the demonic hierarchy from The Book of the Sacred Magic of Abra - Melin the Mage. The Church of Satan uses the Hebrew letters at each of the points of the Sigil of Baphomet to represent Leviathan. Starting from the lowest point of the pentagram, and reading counter-clockwise, the word reads `` לִוְיָתָן ''. Transliterated, this is ( LVIThN ) Leviathan. See also Adamastor Apep Aspidochelone Bakunawa Behemoth Book of Job in Byzantine illuminated manuscripts Christian demons in popular culture Jörmungandr Kraken Lernaean Hydra Leviathan in popular culture Lilith Lotan Ouroboros Rahab ( Egypt ) Shesha Tannin ( monster ) Tarasque Tiamat Ziz References This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain : Singer, Isidore ; et al., eds. ( 1901 -- 1906 ). `` Leviathan ''. Jewish Encyclopedia. New York : Funk & Wagnalls Company. Jump up ^ Cirlot, Juan Eduardo ( 1971 ). A Dictionary of Symbols ( 2nd ed. ). Dorset Press. p. 186. ^ Jump up to : Wilhelm Gesenius, Samuel Prideaux Tregelles ( trans. ) Hebrew and Chaldee lexicon to the Old Testament ( 1879 ). Jump up ^ Uehlinger ( 1999 ), p. 514. ^ Jump up to : Herrmann ( 1999 ), p. 133. Jump up ^ Heider ( 1999 ). ^ Jump up to : Uehlinger ( 1999 ), p. 512. ^ Jump up to : K. van der Toorn, Bob Becking, Pieter Willem van der Horst, eds. ( 1999 ). Dictionary of deities and demons in the Bible. Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing. pp. 512 -- 14. Retrieved 13 July 2012. CS1 maint : Uses editors parameter ( link ) ^ Jump up to : Hermann Gunkel, Heinrich Zimmern ; K. William Whitney Jr., trans., Creation And Chaos in the Primeval Era And the Eschaton : A Religio - historical Study of Genesis 1 and Revelation 12. ( Grand Rapids : MI : Erdmans, 1895, 1921, 2006 ). Jump up ^ Enuma Elish, Tablet IV, lines 104 -- 105, 137 -- 138, 144 from Alexander Heidel ( 1963 ) ( 1942 ), Babylonian Genesis, 41 -- 42. Jump up ^ Jewish Publication Society translation ( 1917 ). Jump up ^ Gen. 1 : 21. Jump up ^ Gen. 1 : 21 ( KJV ). Jump up ^ Ps. 104. Jump up ^ For example, in Isaiah 27 : 1. Jump up ^ Watson, R.S. ( 2005 ). Chaos Uncreated : A Reassessment of the Theme of `` chaos '' in the Hebrew Bible. Walter de Gruyter. ISBN 3110179938, ISBN 9783110179934 Jump up ^ Baba Bathra 74b Jump up ^ Chabad. `` Rashi 's Commentary on Genesis ''. Retrieved 25 October 2012. Jump up ^ Finkel, Avraham ( 1993 ). The Essence of the Holy Days : Insights from the Jewish Sages. Northvale, N.J. : J. Aronson. p. 99. ISBN 0 - 87668 - 524 - 6. OCLC 27935834. ^ Jump up to : Baba Bathra 75a Jump up ^ Bekorot 55b ; Baba Bathra 75a Jump up ^ Hirsch, Emil G. ; Kaufmann Kohler ; Solomon Schechter ; Isaac Broydé. `` Leviathan and Behemoth ''. JewishEncyclopedia.com. Retrieved 3 September 2009. Jump up ^ Labriola, Albert C. ( 1982 ). `` The Medieval View of History in Paradise Lost ''. In Mulryan, John. Milton and the Middle Ages. Bucknell University Press. pp. 115 -- 34. ISBN 978 - 0 - 8387 - 5036 - 0. p. 127. Jump up ^ Link, Luther ( 1995 ). The Devil : A Mask Without a Face. London : Reaktion Books. pp. 75 -- 6. ISBN 0 - 948462 - 67 - 1. Jump up ^ Hofmann, Petra ( 2008 ). Infernal Imagery in Anglo - Saxon Charters ( PDF ) ( Thesis ). St Andrews. pp. 143 -- 44. Jump up ^ The Holy Bible Revised Standared Version. New York : Thomas Nelson and Sons. 1959. pp. 555 -- 56 Jump up ^ `` Genesis Park, Room 1 : The Dinosaurs ''. Genesispark.com. Retrieved 13 July 2012. Taylor, Paul S. ( 13 February 2008 ). `` Were Dinosaurs alive after Babel ? ''. Answersingenesis.org. Retrieved 13 July 2012. Jump up ^ `` '' The Kraken '' ( 1830 ) ``. www.victorianweb.org. Retrieved 2017 - 09 - 03. Jump up ^ `` The History of the Origin of the Sigil of Baphomet and its Use in the Church of Satan ''. Church of Satan website. Retrieved 3 September 2009. Bibliography Heider, George C. ( 1999 ), `` Tannîn '', Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, 2nd ed., Grand Rapids : Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, pp. 834 -- 836. Herrmann, Wolfgang ( 1999 ), `` Baal '', Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, 2nd ed., Grand Rapids : Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, pp. 132 -- 139. Uehlinger, C. ( 1999 ), `` Leviathan '', Dictionary of Deities and Demons in the Bible, 2nd ed., Grand Rapids : Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, pp. 511 -- 515. External links Look up leviathan in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ' Sea monster ' whale fossil unearthed. Named Leviathan by scientists 30 June 2010. Putting God on Trial -- The Biblical Book of Job contains a major section on the literary use of Leviathan. Job 41 : 1 -- 41 : 34 ( KJV ) The fossilised skull of a colossal `` sea monster '' has been unearthed along the UK 's Jurassic Coast. 27 October 2009 ' Sea monster ' whale fossil unearthed 30 June 2010 Enuma Elish ( Babylonian creation epic ) Philologos concordance page Text of the Leviathan passage from Job 40 and 41 Book of Job Job In Islam In rabbinic literature People and entities Job 's family members Jemima Keziah Keren - happuch Job 's friends and supporters Bildad Elihu Zophar Eliphaz Behemoth Jobab ben Zerah Leviathan Rahab Ziz Related religious texts Testament of Job In art Films Adam 's Apples ( 2005 ) The Reverend ( 2011 ) A Serious Man ( 2009 ) Leviathan ( 2014 ) Literature Answer to Job ( 1952 analysis ) God 's Favorite ( 1974 play ) J.B. ( 1958 play ) Job ( 1930 novel ) Job 's Passion ( 1981 play ) Job 's Wife ( 2002 play ) Silverlock ( 1949 novel ) Other Byzantine illuminated manuscripts Job ( Bronze sculpture by Judith Shea ) William Blake 's Illustrations of the Book of Job Other Tomb of Job Wikimedia Commons Media Retrieved from `` https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Leviathan&oldid=806880362 '' Categories : Animals in the Bible Biblical figures in rabbinic literature Book of Job Chaos gods Demons in Christianity Monsters Dragons Legendary serpents Mythic aquatic creatures Jewish legendary creatures Jewish mythology Hidden categories : CS1 maint : Uses editors parameter Use dmy dates from October 2010 Articles containing Hebrew - language text Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia Wikipedia articles incorporating a citation from the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia without a Wikisource reference Wikipedia articles incorporating text from the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia Talk Contents About Wikipedia Беларуская Български Català Čeština Cymraeg Dansk Deutsch Eesti Español Esperanto Euskara فارسی Français 한국어 Hrvatski Ido Bahasa Indonesia Italiano עברית Lietuvių Magyar Nederlands 日本 語 Norsk Polski Português Română Русский Scots Shqip Simple English Slovenčina Slovenščina Српски / srpski Suomi Svenska Tagalog தமிழ் ไทย Українська Tiếng Việt 中文 Edit links This page was last edited on 24 October 2017, at 18 : 40. 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Question: where does it talk about leviathan in the bible
Answer: Book of Job