Job 41:32

32 The water glistens in its wake, making the sea look white.

Job 41:32 Meaning and Commentary

Job 41:32

He maketh a path to shine after him
Upon the sea, by raising a white from upon it, through its vehement motion as it passes along, or by the spermaceti it casts out and leaves behind it. It is said ^F19 that whales will cut and plough the sea in such a manner, as to leave a shining glittering path behind them, the length of a German mile, which is three of ours;

[one] would think the deep [to be] hoary;
to be old and grey headed, or white like the hair of the head of an old man, a figure often used of the sea by poets ^F20; and hence "Nereus" ^F21, which is the sea, is said to be an old man, because the froth in the waves of it looks like white hair.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 Vid. Scheuchzer. ibid. (vol. 4.) p. 853.
F20 (polihv alov) , Homer. Iliad. 1. v. 350. (polihv yalasshv) , Iliad. 4. v. 248. "incanuit unda", Catullus.
F21 Phurnutus de Natura Deorum, p. 63.

Job 41:32 In-Context

30 Its belly is covered with scales as sharp as glass. It plows up the ground as it drags through the mud.

31 “Leviathan makes the water boil with its commotion. It stirs the depths like a pot of ointment.

32 The water glistens in its wake, making the sea look white.

33 Nothing on earth is its equal, no other creature so fearless.

34 Of all the creatures, it is the proudest. It is the king of beasts.”