Job 41:19

19 Out of his mouth go burning torches, And sparks of fire leap forth.

Job 41:19 Meaning and Commentary

Job 41:19

Out of his mouth go burning lamps, [and] sparks of fire leap
out.
] Which, though hyperbolical expressions, have some foundation for them in the latter; in the vast quantities of water thrown out by the whale, through its mouth or hole in its frontispiece, which in the sun may look like lamps and sparks of fire, as before observed; and especially in the "orcae", or whales with teeth, which eject in the same way an oily mucus, or the fat liquor of the brain, commonly called spermaceti, which may appear more bright and glittering. Ovid F20 says much the same of the boar as is here said of the leviathan.


FOOTNOTES:

F20 "Fulmen ab ore venit; frondesque adflatibus ardent". Metamorph. c. 8. Fab. 4.

Job 41:19 In-Context

17 They are joined one to another; They stick together, so that they cannot be sundered.
18 His sneezings flash forth light, And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
19 Out of his mouth go burning torches, And sparks of fire leap forth.
20 Out of his nostrils a smoke goeth, As of a boiling pot and [burning] rushes.
21 His breath kindleth coals, And a flame goeth forth from his mouth.
The American Standard Version is in the public domain.