Logos Bible Study

Job 41:16–34

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41:16each one is so close to the next28

that no air can come between them.

41:17They lock tightly together, one to the next;29

they cling together and cannot be separated.

41:18Its snorting throws out flashes of light;

its eyes are like the red glow30 of dawn.

41:19Out of its mouth go flames,31

sparks of fire shoot forth!

41:20Smoke streams from its nostrils

as from a boiling pot over burning32 rushes.

41:21Its breath sets coals ablaze

and a flame shoots from its mouth.

41:22Strength lodges in its neck,

and despair33 runs before it.

41:23The folds34 of its flesh are tightly joined;

they are firm on it, immovable.35

41:24Its heart36 is hard as rock,

hard as a lower millstone.

41:25When it rises up, the mighty are terrified,

at its thrashing about they withdraw.37

41:26Whoever strikes it with a sword38

will have no effect,39

nor with the spear, arrow, or dart.

41:27It regards iron as straw

and bronze as rotten wood.

41:28Arrows40 do not make it flee;

slingstones become like chaff to it.

41:29A club is counted41 as a piece of straw;

it laughs at the rattling of the lance.

41:30Its underparts42 are the sharp points of potsherds,

it leaves its mark in the mud

like a threshing sledge.43

41:31It makes the deep boil like a cauldron

and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment,44

41:32It leaves a glistening wake behind it;

one would think the deep had a head of white hair.

41:33The likes of it is not on earth,

a creature45 without fear.

41:34It looks on every haughty being;

it is king over all that are proud.”46

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Footnotes

  1. 28 The expression “each one … to the next” is literally “one with one.”
  2. 29 Heb “a man with his brother.”
  3. 30 Heb “the eyelids,” but it represents the early beams of the dawn as the cover of night lifts.
  4. 31 For the animal, the image is that of pent-up breath with water in a hot steam jet coming from its mouth, like a stream of fire in the rays of the sun. The language is hyperbolic, probably to reflect the pagan ideas of the dragon of the deep in a polemical way—they feared it as a fire breathing monster, but in reality it might have been a steamy crocodile.
  5. 32 The word “burning” is supplied. The and have “a seething and boiling pot” (reading אֹגֵם [’ogem] for אַגְמֹן [’agmon]). This view is widely accepted.
  6. 33 This word, דְּאָבָה (dé’avah) is a . But the verbal root means “to languish; to pine.” A related noun talks of dejection and despair in Deut 28:65. So here “despair” as a translation is preferable to “terror.”
  7. 34 Heb “fallings.”
  8. 35 The last clause says “it cannot be moved.” But this part will function adverbially in the sentence.
  9. 36 The description of his heart being “hard” means that he is cruel and fearless. The word for “hard” is the word encountered before for molten or cast metal.
  10. 37 This verse has created all kinds of problems for the commentators. The first part is workable: “when he raises himself up, the mighty [the gods] are terrified.” The mythological approach would render אֵלִים (’elim) as “gods.” But the last two words, which could be rendered “at the breaking [crashing, or breakers] they fail,” receive much attention. E. Dhorme (Job, 639) suggests “majesty” for “raising up” and “billows” (גַּלִּים, gallim) for אֵלִים (’elim), and gets a better parallelism: “the billows are afraid of his majesty, and the waves draw back.” But H. H. Rowley (Job [], 263) does not think this is relevant to the context, which is talking about the creature’s defense against attack. The works well for the first part, but the second part need some change; so Rowley adopts “in their dire consternation they are beside themselves.”
  11. 38 This is the clearest reading, following A. B. Davidson, Job, 285. The versions took different readings of the construction.
  12. 39 The verb קוּם (qum, “stand”) with בְּלִי (béli, “not”) has the sense of “does not hold firm,” or “gives way.”
  13. 40 Heb “the son of the bow.”
  14. 41 The verb is plural, but since there is no expressed subject it is translated as a passive here.
  15. 42 Heb “under him.”
  16. 43 Here only the word “sharp” is present, but in passages like Isa 41:15 it is joined with “threshing sledge.” Here and in Amos 1:3 and Isa 28:27 the word stands alone, but represents the “sledge.”
  17. 44 The idea is either that the sea is stirred up like the foam from beating the ingredients together, or it is the musk-smell that is the point of comparison.
  18. 45 Heb “one who was made.”
  19. 46 Heb “the sons of pride.” Dhorme repoints the last word to get “all the wild beasts,” but this misses the point of the verse. This animal looks over every proud creature—but he is king of them all in that department.

The NET Bible First Edition, Copyright 1996-2005 by Biblical Studies Press