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[align=left][size=9]On the fifth day of creation, God took fire and water, and out of these two elements He made the fishes of the sea. The animals in the water are much more numerous than those on land. For every species on land, excepting only the weasel, there is a corresponding species in the water, and, besides, there are many found only in the water.
The ruler over the sea-animals is leviathan. With all the other fishes he was made on the fifth day. Originally, he was created male and female, like all the other animals. But when it appeared that a pair of these monsters might annihilate the whole earth with their united strength, God killed the female. So enormous is leviathan that to quench his thirst he needs all the water that flows from the Jordan into the sea. His food consists of the fish which go between his jaws of their own accord. When he is hungry, a hot breath blows from his nostrils, and it makes the waters of the great sea seething hot....
But leviathan is more than merely large and strong; he is wonderfully made besides. His fins radiate brilliant light, the very sun is obscured by it, and also his eyes shed such splendor that this marvelous beast is the plaything of God, in whom He takes His pastime.
There is but one thing that makes leviathan repulsive — his foul smell, which is so strong that if it penetrated thither, it would render Paradise itself an impossible abode.
The real purpose of leviathan is to be served up as a dainty to the pious in the world to come. The female was put into brine as soon as she was killed, to be preserved against the time when her flesh will be needed. The male is destined to offer a delectable sight to all beholders before he is consumed.
When his last hour arrives, God will summon the angels into combat with the monster. But no sooner will leviathan cast his glance at them, than they will flee in fear and dismay from the field of battle. They will return to the charge with swords, but in vain, for his scales can turn back steel like straw. They will be equally unsuccessful when they attempt to kill him by throwing darts and slinging stones; such missiles will rebound without leaving the least impression on his body.
Disheartened, the angels will give up the combat, and God will command leviathan and behemot (king of the beasts) to enter into a duel with each other. The issue will be that both drop dead, behemot slaughtered by a blow of leviathan's fins, and leviathan killed by a lash of behemot's tale. From the skin of leviathan God will construct tens to shelter companies of the pious, while they enjoy the dishes made of his flesh. The amount assigned to each of the pious will be in proportion to his deserts, and none will envy or begrudge the other his better share.
What is left of leviathan's skin will stretched out over Jerusalem as a canopy, and the light streaming from it will illumine the whole world. What is left of his flesh after the pious have appeased their appetite, will be distributed among the rest of men, to carry on traffic therewith.
Among the fishes there are also wonderful creatures, the sea-goats and the dolphins, not to men leviathan. A seafaring man once saw a sea-goat on whose horns the words were inscribed: "I am a little sea animals, yet I traversed three hundred parasangs to offer myself as food to the leviathan." The dolphins are half man and half fish; they even have sexual intercourse with human beings; therefore they are called also "sons of the sea," for in a sense they represent the human kind in the waters.[/size][/align]
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