“... Third, biblical texts attest to the cosmic forces as the chief-god’s domesticated beasts. The book of Job knows these cosmic enemies both as human foes and divine playthings. So Job himself expresses the understanding of these figures as hostile powers, when he complains against God: “Am I Sea or Tannin that You set a watch over me?” (Job 7:12; see the reference to Leviathan in Job 3:8 and the mention of the Sea and the serpent in 26:13). Yet the book of Job later declaws these enemies by rendering them not as Yahweh’s enemies but as objects of divine domestication. So God responds to Job that he treated Sea at creation not as an enemy but as a new-born babe (Job 38:8–11). Leviathan is the sea creature caught by God’s “fishhook” (40:25, NJPS), drawn by a rope and nose-ring. God asks Job: “Will you play with him like a bird . . . ?” (40:29). Psalm 104:26 similarily identifies this figure as a creature made for play: “Leviathan whom you formed to sport with.” This view of Leviathan as a tamed pet may counter the expectation of an Israelite ...”