Job 41:9-19

9 ^[a] Any hope of [capturing] him proves false. Does a person not collapse at the very sight of him?

10 No one is ferocious [enough] to rouse Leviathan; who then can stand against Me?^[b]

11 Who confronted Me, that I should repay him?^[c] Everything under heaven belongs to Me.

12 I cannot be silent about his limbs, his power, and his graceful proportions.

13 Who can strip off his outer covering? Who can penetrate his double layer of armor?^[d][e]

14 Who can open his jaws,^[f] surrounded by those terrifying teeth?

15 [His] pride is in [his] rows of scales, closely sealed together.^[g]

16 One scale is so close to another^[h] that no air can pass between them.

17 They are joined to one another, so closely connected^[i] they cannot be separated.

18 His snorting^[j] flashes with light, while his eyes are like the rays^[k] of dawn.

19 Flaming torches shoot^[l] from his mouth; fiery sparks fly out!

Job 41:9-19 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 41

A large description is here given of the leviathan, from the difficulty and danger of taking it, from whence it is inferred that none can stand before God, Job 41:1-10; from the several parts of him, his face, teeth, scales, eyes, mouth and neck, flesh and heart, Job 41:11-24; and from various wonderful terrible things said of him, and ascribed to him, Job 41:25-34.

Footnotes

• [a]. Jb 41:1 in Hb
• [b]. Ps 2:2-5
• [c]. Jb 34:11,33
• [d]. LXX; MT reads double bridle
• [e]. Ps 32:9
• [f]. Lit open the doors of his face
• [g]. Jb 40:18
• [h]. Lit One by one they approach
• [i]. Lit another; they cling together and
• [j]. Or sneezing
• [k]. Lit eyelids
• [l]. Pr 26:18