Will he make many supplications to you?: after Leviathan is captured and made a prisoner, the questions become ironic. Make supplications translates “multiply the prayers.” The reason he begs his captor is that he wants to be freed, and so Good News Translation translates more specifically “Will he beg you to let him go?”

In the second line the irony heightens. Will he speak to you in soft words? asks if Leviathan will use sweet talk, or honeyed words, which is flattery, to obtain his release. Dhorme translates “tender words,” Bible en français courant “fond words,” New International Version “gentle words.”

Verse 3 may also be expressed “Will he beg you for mercy or flatter you with sweet words?” or “Will he beg you for his life or warm your heart with tender words?”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .