Bava Batra 75A

קניגיא עם לויתן, שנאמר: ״התמשך לויתן בחכה ובחבל תשקיע לשנו״, ואלמלא הקדוש ברוך הוא עוזרו ⁠– אין יכול לו; שנאמר: ״העשו יגש חרבו״.

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 God 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).

כי אתא רב דימי אמר רבי יוחנן: בשעה שלויתן רעב, מוציא הבל מפיו ומרתיח כל מימות שבמצולה ⁠– שנאמר: ״ירתיח כסיר מצולה״. ואלמלא מכניס ראשו לגן עדן ⁠– אין כל בריה יכולה לעמוד בריחו, שנאמר: ״ים ישים כמרקחה״.

When Rav Dimi came from Eretz Yisrael to Babylonia, he said that R' 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, as it is stated: “He makes the sea like a seething mixture [merkaḥa]” (Job 41:23), and the term merkaḥa is also used to describe something with a smell (see Exodus 30:25).

ובשעה שצמא ⁠– עושה תלמים תלמים בים, שנאמר: ״אחריו יאיר נתיב״. אמר רב אחא בר יעקב: אין תהום חוזר לאיתנו עד שבעים שנה, שנאמר: ״יחשב תהום לשיבה״⁠ – ואין ״שיבה״ פחותה משבעים.

And when he is thirsty, he makes many furrows in the sea, as it is stated: “He makes a path to shine after him” (Job 41:24). Rav Aḥa bar Yaakov says: After the leviathan drinks from the sea, the depth of the sea does not return to its normal condition until 70 years have passed, as it is stated: “One would think the deep to be hoary” (Job 41:24), and hoary indicates a person who is no less than 70 years old.