Job 41:20

20 Smoke pours from his nostrils like a boiling pot over reeds.

Job 41:20 Meaning and Commentary

Job 41:20

Out of his nostrils goeth forth smoke, as [out] of a seething
pot or caldron.
] In which flesh or anything else is boiling. It is observed that there is a likeness between the crocodile and the river horse, and particularly in their breathing ^F21: and of the former it is remarked ^F23, that its nostrils are very large and open, and that they breathe out a fiery smoke, as out of a furnace.

---

FOOTNOTES:

F21 Plin. l. 48. c. 8. Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 8. c. 2.
F23 Achilles Statius & Eustathius, apud Scheuchzer: ut supra. (vol. 4. p. 849.)

Job 41:20 In-Context

18 His sneezes emit flashes of light; his eyes are like dawn's rays.

19 Shafts of fire shoot from his mouth; like fiery sparks they fly out.

20 Smoke pours from his nostrils like a boiling pot over reeds.

21 His breath lights coals; a flame shoots from his mouth.

22 Power resides in his neck; violence dances before him.