Job 41:19

19 La flèche ne le fait pas fuir, les pierres de la fronde sont pour lui comme du chaume;

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 Quand on l'approche, l'épée ne sert à rien, ni la lance, ni le dard, ni la cuirasse.
18 Il regarde le fer comme de la paille, et l'airain comme du bois pourri.
19 La flèche ne le fait pas fuir, les pierres de la fronde sont pour lui comme du chaume;
20 Comme du chaume, la massue; il se rit du frémissement des javelots.
21 Son ventre a des tessons pointus: il étend une herse sur le limon.
The Ostervald translation is in the public domain.