Job 40:21

21 He takes afternoon naps under shade trees, cools himself in the reedy swamps,

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 Most magnificent of all my creatures, but I still lead him around like a lamb!

20 The grass-covered hills serve him meals, while field mice frolic in his shadow.

21 He takes afternoon naps under shade trees, cools himself in the reedy swamps,

22 Lazily cool in the leafy shadows as the breeze moves through the willows.

23 And when the river rages he doesn't budge, stolid and unperturbed even when the Jordan goes wild.