Job 40:21

21 Or wilt thou fasten a ring in his nostril, and bore his lip with a clasp?

Job 40:21 Meaning and Commentary

Job 40:21

He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed,
and fens.
] This may be thought to agree very well with the river horse, the inhabitant of the Nile, where reeds in great plenty grew, and adjoining to which were fenny and marshy places, and shady trees; and, as historians relate ^F5, this creature takes its lodging among high reeds, and in shady places; yea, the reeds and sugar canes, and the leaves of the papyrus, are part of the food on which it lives; and hence the hunters of them sometimes cover their bait with a reed to take them; though it must be allowed that the elephant delights to be about rivers, and in clayey and fenny places ^F6, and therefore Aelianus ^F7 says it may be called the fenny animal.

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FOOTNOTES:

F5 Ammian. Marcellin. l. 22. Bellonius & Achilles Tatius apud Bochart ut supra. (Apud Hierozoic. par. 2. l. 5. c. 14. col. 760.)
F6 Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 9. c. 46. Plin. l. 8. c. 10. Aelian. de Animal. l. 9. c. 56.
F7 lbid. l. 9. c. 24.

Job 40:21 In-Context

19 shall take him in his sight; shall catch with a cord, and pierce his nose.

20 But wilt thou catch the serpent with a hook, and put a halter about his nose?

21 Or wilt thou fasten a ring in his nostril, and bore his lip with a clasp?

22 Will he address thee with a petition? softly, with the voice of a suppliant?

23 And will he make a covenant with thee? and wilt thou take him for a perpetual servant?