Job 41:2

2 Will you put a cord into his nose, or take him away with a cord round his tongue?

Job 41:2 Meaning and Commentary

Job 41:2

Canst thou put an hook into his nose?
&c.] Or a rush, that is, a rope made of rushes; for of such ropes were made, as Pliny ^F7 affirms;

or bore his jaw through with a thorn?
as men do herrings, or such like small fish, for the convenience of carrying them, or hanging them up to dry; the whale is not to be used in such a manner: but the Tentyritae, a people in Egypt, great enemies to crocodiles, had methods of taking thorn in nets, and of binding and bridling them, and carrying them as they pleased ^F8.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F7 Nat. Hist. l. 19. c. 2.
F8 Strabo. Geograph. l. 17. p. 560. Aelian. de Animal. l. 10. c. 21. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 25.

Job 41:2 In-Context

1 Is it possible for Leviathan to be pulled out with a fish-hook, or for a hook to be put through the bone of his mouth?

2 Will you put a cord into his nose, or take him away with a cord round his tongue?

3 Will he make prayers to you, or say soft words to you?

4 Will he make an agreement with you, so that you may take him as a servant for ever?

5 Will you make sport with him, as with a bird? or put him in chains for your young women?