Job 40:6–41:8

Footnotes

1. 7 The speech can be divided into three parts: the invitation to Job to assume the throne and rule the world (40:7–14), the description of Behemoth (40:15–24), and the description of Leviathan (41:1–34).
2. 8 See note on “task” in .
3. 9 The verb פָּרַר (parar) means “to annul; to break; to frustrate.” It was one thing for Job to claim his own integrity, but it was another matter altogether to nullify God’s righteousness in the process.
4. 10 Heb “do you have an arm like God?” The words “as powerful as” have been supplied in the translation to clarify the metaphor.
5. 11 The verb was used for scattering lightning (Job 37:11). God is challenging Job to unleash his power and judge wickedness in the world.
6. 12 Heb “the overflowings.”
7. 13 The word was just used in the positive sense of excellence or majesty; now the exalted nature of the person refers to self-exaltation, or pride.
8. 14 The expression translated “on the spot” is the prepositional phrase תַּחְתָּם (takhtam, “under them”). “Under them” means in their place. But it can also mean “where someone stands, on the spot” (see Exod 16:29; Jos 6:5; Judg 7:21, etc.).
9. 15 The word “dust” can mean “ground” here, or more likely, “grave.”
10. 16 The verb חָבַשׁ (khavash) means “to bind.” In Arabic the word means “to bind” in the sense of “to imprison,” and that fits here.
11. 17 Heb “their faces.”
12. 18 The word is “secret place,” the place where he is to hide them, i.e., the grave. The text uses the word “secret place” as a metonymy for the grave.
13. 19 The verb is usually translated “praise,” but with the sense of a public declaration or acknowledgment. It is from יָדָה (yadah, in the Hiphil, as here, “give thanks, laud”).
14. 20 The imperfect verb has the nuance of potential imperfect: “can save; is able to save.”
15. 21 The next ten verses are devoted to a portrayal of Behemoth (the name means “beast” in Hebrew). It does not fit any of the present material very well, and so many think the section is a later addition. Its style is more like that of a textbook. Moreover, if the animal is a real animal (the usual suggestion is the hippopotamus), then the location of such an animal is Egypt and not Palestine. Some have identified these creatures Behemoth and Leviathan as mythological creatures (Gunkel, Pope). Others point out that these creatures could have been dinosaurs (P. J. Maarten, , 2:; H. M. Morris, The Remarkable Record of Job, 115–22). Most would say they are real animals, but probably mythologized by the pagans. So the pagan reader would receive an additional impact from this point about God’s sovereignty over all nature.
16. 22 By form the word is the feminine plural of the Hebrew word for “beast.” Here it is an abstract word—a title.
17. 23 Heb “with you.” The meaning could be temporal (“when I made you”)—perhaps a reference to the sixth day of creation (Gen 1:24).
18. 24 In both of these verses הִנֶּה (hinneh, “behold”) has the deictic force (the word is from Greek δείκνυμι, deiknumi, “to show”). It calls attention to something by pointing it out. The expression goes with the sudden look, the raised eye, the pointing hand—“O look!”
19. 25 The verb חָפַץ (khafats) occurs only here. It may have the meaning “to make stiff; to make taut” (Arabic). The and the versions support this with “erects.” But there is another Arabic word that could be cognate, meaning “arch, bend.” This would give the idea of the tail swaying. The other reading seems to make better sense here. However, “stiff” presents a serious problem with the view that the animal is the hippopotamus.
20. 26 Heb “the ways of God.” This may be a reference to Gen 1:24, where the first of the animal creation was the cattle—béhemah (בְּהֵמָה).
21. 27 The literal reading of the is “let the one who made him draw near [with] his sword.” The sword is apparently a reference to the teeth or tusks of the animal, which cut vegetation like a sword. But the idea of a weapon is easier to see, and so the people who favor the mythological background see here a reference to God’s slaying the Beast. There are again many suggestions on how to read the line. The probably has the safest: “He that made him has furnished him with his sword” (the sword being a reference to the sharp tusks with which he can attack).
22. 28 The word בּוּל (bul) probably refers to food. Many take it as an abbreviated form of יְבוּל (yévul, “produce of the field”). The vegetation that is produced on the low hills is what is meant.
23. 29 The suffix is singular, but must refer to the trees’ shade.
24. 30 The word ordinarily means “to oppress.” So many commentators have proposed suitable changes: “overflows” (Beer), “gushes” (Duhm), “swells violently” (Dhorme, from a word that means “be strong”).
25. 31 Or “he remains calm.”
26. 32 The idea would be either (1) catch it while it is watching, or (2) in some way disabling its eyes before the attack. But others change the reading; Ball suggested “with hooks” and this has been adopted by some modern English versions (e.g., ).
27. 33 Ehrlich altered the slightly to get “with thorns,” a view accepted by Driver, Dhorme and Pope.
28. 1 Beginning with 41:1, the verse numbers through 41:9 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (), with 41:1 = 40:25 , 41:2 = 40:26 , etc., through 41:34 = 41:26 . The Hebrew verse numbers in the remainder of the chapter differ from the verse numbers in the English Bible. Beginning with 42:1 the verse numbers in the and are again the same.
29. 2 The verb מָשַׁךְ (mashakh) means “to extract from the water; to fish.” The question here includes the use of a hook to fish the creature out of the water so that its jaws can be tied safely.
30. 3 The verb שָׁקַע (shaqa’) means “to cause to sink,” if it is connected with the word in Amos 8:8 and 9:5. But it may have the sense of “to tie; to bind.” If the rope were put around the tongue and jaw, binding tightly would be the sense.
31. 4 The line asks if the animal, when caught and tied and under control, would keep on begging for mercy. Absolutely not. It is not in the nature of the beast. The construction uses יַרְבֶּה (yarbeh, “[will] he multiply” [= “make numerous”]), with the object, “supplications” i.e., prayers for mercy.
32. 5 The rhetorical question again affirms the opposite. The poem is portraying the creature as powerful and insensitive.
33. 6 Heb “will he cut a covenant.”
34. 7 The imperfect verb serves to express what the covenant pact would cover, namely, “that you take.”
35. 8 The Hebrew verb is שָׂחַק (sakhaq, “to sport; to trifle; to play,” Ps 104:26).
36. 9 The idea may include putting Leviathan on a leash. D. W. Thomas suggested on the basis of an Arabic cognate that it could be rendered “tie him with a string like a young sparrow” ( 14 [1964]: 114ff.).
37. 10 The word חָבַּר (khabbar) is a , but the meaning is “to associate” since it is etymologically related to the verb “to join together.” The idea is that fishermen usually work in companies or groups, and then divide up the catch when they come ashore—which involves bargaining.
38. 11 The word כָּרַה (karah) means “to sell.” With the preposition עַל (’al, “upon”) it has the sense “to bargain over something.”
39. 12 The verb means “to cut up; to divide up” in the sense of selling the dead body (see Exod 21:35). This will be between them and the merchants (כְּנַעֲנִים, kéna’anim).
40. 13 The verse uses two imperatives which can be interpreted in sequence: do this, and then this will happen.