Job 41:19

19 Out of his mouth go burning lights, and flames of fire are jumping up.

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 take a grip of one another; they are joined together, so that they may not be parted.
18 His sneezings give out flames, and his eyes are like the eyes of the dawn.
19 Out of his mouth go burning lights, and flames of fire are jumping up.
20 Smoke comes out of his nose, like a pot boiling on the fire.
21 His breath puts fire to coals, and a flame goes out of his mouth.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.