Job41
World English Bible · Public Domain
1“Can you draw out Leviathan with a fish hook, or press down his tongue with a cord?
2Can you put a rope into his nose, or pierce his jaw through with a hook?
3Will he make many petitions to you, or will he speak soft words to you?
4Will he make a covenant with you, that you should take him for a servant forever?
5Will you play with him as with a bird? Or will you bind him for your girls?
6Will traders barter for him? Will they part him among the merchants?
7Can you fill his skin with barbed irons, or his head with fish spears?
8Lay your hand on him. Remember the battle, and do so no more.
9Behold, the hope of him is in vain. Won’t one be cast down even at the sight of him?
10None is so fierce that he dare stir him up. Who then is he who can stand before me?
11Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Everything under the heavens is mine.
12“I will not keep silence concerning his limbs, nor his mighty strength, nor his goodly frame.
13Who can strip off his outer garment? Who will come within his jaws?
14Who can open the doors of his face? Around his teeth is terror.
15Strong scales are his pride, shut up together with a close seal.
16One is so near to another, that no air can come between them.
17They are joined to one another. They stick together, so that they can’t be pulled apart.
18His sneezing flashes out light. His eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
19Out of his mouth go burning torches. Sparks of fire leap out.
20Out of his nostrils a smoke goes, as of a boiling pot over a fire of reeds.
21His breath kindles coals. A flame goes out of his mouth.
22There is strength in his neck. Terror dances before him.
23The flakes of his flesh are joined together. They are firm on him. They can’t be moved.
24His heart is as firm as a stone, yes, firm as the lower millstone.
25When he raises himself up, the mighty are afraid. They retreat before his thrashing.
26If one attacks him with the sword, it can’t prevail; nor the spear, the dart, nor the pointed shaft.
27He counts iron as straw, and bronze as rotten wood.
28The arrow can’t make him flee. Sling stones are like chaff to him.
29Clubs are counted as stubble. He laughs at the rushing of the javelin.
30His undersides are like sharp potsherds, leaving a trail in the mud like a threshing sledge.
31He makes the deep to boil like a pot. He makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
32He makes a path shine after him. One would think the deep had white hair.
33On earth there is not his equal, that is made without fear.
34He sees everything that is high. He is king over all the sons of pride.”
Study Guide
Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Job 41.
Chapter Summary
In this chapter: Concerning Leviathan. (1-34).
vv1-34
—The description of the Leviathan, is yet further to convince Job of his own weakness, and of God's almighty power. Whether this Leviathan be a whale or a crocodile, is disputed. The Lord, having showed Job how unable he was to deal with the Leviathan, sets forth his own power in that mighty creature. If such language describes the terrible force of Leviathan, what words can express the power of God's wrath? Under a humbling sense of our own vileness, let us revere the Divine Majesty; take and fill our allotted place, cease from our own wisdom, and give all glory to our gracious God and Saviour. Remembering from whom every good gift cometh, and for what end it was given, let us walk humbly with the Lord.
Key Words
מָשַׁךְ: to draw, used in a great variety of applications (including to sow, to sound, to prolong, to develop, to march, to remove, to delay, to be tall, etc.)
לִוְיָתָן: a wreathed animal, i.e. a serpent (especially the crocodile or some other large sea-monster); figuratively, the constellation of the dragon; also as a symbol of Babylon
חַכָּה: a hook (as adhering)
שָׁקַע: to subside; by implication, to be overflowed, cease; causatively, to abate, subdue
לָשׁוֹן: the tongue (of man or animals), used literally (as the instrument of licking, eating, or speech), and figuratively (speech, an ingot, a fork of flame, a cove of water)
חֶבֶל: a rope (as twisted), especially a measuring line; by implication, a district or inheritance (as measured); or a noose (as of cords); figuratively, a company (as if tied together); also a throe (especially of parturition); also ruin
שׂוּם: to put (used in a great variety of applications, literal, figurative, inferentially, and elliptically)
אַגְמוֹן: a bulrush (as growing there); collectively a rope of bulrushes
אַף: properly, the nose or nostril; hence, the face, and occasionally a person; also (from the rapid breathing in passion) ire
נָקַב: to puncture, literally (to perforate, with more or less violence) or figuratively (to specify, designate, libel)
Cross References
Job 41Paul echoes this verse to show God is under obligation to no man for his sovereign gifts.
Supported by JFB
Explicit biblical mention of Leviathan playing in the deep, showing God's creative design.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Identifies Leviathan as a symbol/type of oppressive worldly powers (like Egypt's Pharaoh) crushed by God.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Leviathan depicted as the piercing, crooked serpent that the Lord will punish with His sore sword.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Prophetic imagery of putting hooks in the jaws of the great river monster (Pharaoh/Egypt).
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
God puts His hook in Sennacherib's nose, treating a proud king like a subdued beast.
Supported by JFB
Pharaoh is compared to the great dragon (crocodile) in the rivers, embodying pride and sovereignty.
Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB
Refers to those skilled in mourning who are ready to rouse up Leviathan.
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Parallel warning against rousing a fierce, sleeping beast (a lion), illustrating the danger of Leviathan.
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Affirms God's absolute ownership of the whole earth, establishing His sovereign authority over creation.
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Poetic imagery of smoke and consuming fire from the nostrils/mouth of God in His wrath.
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The law of taking a servant 'for ever', contrasting with Leviathan's absolute untamability.
Supported by Matthew Poole
Similar rhetorical question about binding a wild beast (the unicorn) to serve human purposes.
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The poor use entreaties, but the mighty beast will never make soft supplications.
Supported by Matthew Poole
If a mere creature cannot be opposed, how much more must men serve God with fear.
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Compares Leviathan's unique supremacy to Behemoth as the chief of the ways of God.
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