Job 41:14

14 Who dares open the doors of its mouth, ringed about with fearsome teeth?

Job 41:14 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
14 Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about.
English Standard Version (ESV)
14 Who can open the doors of his face? Around his teeth is terror.
New Living Translation (NLT)
14 Who could pry open its jaws? For its teeth are terrible!
The Message Bible (MSG)
14 And who would dare knock at the door of his mouth filled with row upon row of fierce teeth?
American Standard Version (ASV)
14 Who can open the doors of his face? Round about his teeth is terror.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
14 Who can open its closed mouth? Its teeth are surrounded by terror.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
14 Who can open his jaws, surrounded by those terrifying teeth?
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
14 Who dares to open its jaws? Its mouth is filled with terrifying teeth.

Job 41:14 Meaning and Commentary

Job 41:14

Who can open the doors of his face?
&c.] Of his mouth, the jaws thereof, which are like a pair of folding doors: the jaws of a crocodile have a prodigious opening. Peter Martyr F21 speaks of one, whose jaws opened seven feet broad; and Leo Africanus F23 affirms he saw some, whose jaws, when opened, would hold a whole cow. To the wideness of the jaws of this creature Martial F24 alludes; and that the doors or jaws of the mouth of the whale are of a vast extent will be easily believed by those who suppose that was the fish which swallowed Jonah;

his teeth are terrible round about;
this may seem to make against the whale, the common whale having none; though the "ceti dentati" are a sort of whales that have many teeth in the lower jaw, white, large, solid, and terrible F25. Olaus Magnus F26 speaks of some that have jaws twelve or fourteen feet long; and teeth of six, eight, and twelve feet; and there is a sort called "trumpo", having teeth resembling those of a mill F1. In the spermaceti whale are rows of fine ivory teeth in each jaw, about five or six inches long F2. But of the crocodile there is no doubt; which has two rows of teeth, very sharp and terrible, and to the number of sixty F3.


FOOTNOTES:

F21 Decad. 5. c. 9.
F23 Descript. Africae, l. 9. p. 763. So Sandys's Travels, l. 2. p. 78. Edit. 5.
F24 Epigram. l. 3. cp. 64.
F25 Vid. Plin. l. 9. c. 5, 6. and Philosoph. Transact. vol. 3. p. 544. Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. vol. 4. p. 848.
F26 De Ritu Gent. Septent. l. 21. c. 8.
F1 Philosoph. Transact. abridged, vol. 2. p. 847, 848.
F2 Philosoph. Transact. abridged, vol. 7. part 3. p. 425.
F3 Aelian. l. 10. c. 21.

Job 41:14 In-Context

12 “I will not fail to speak of Leviathan’s limbs, its strength and its graceful form.
13 Who can strip off its outer coat? Who can penetrate its double coat of armor ?
14 Who dares open the doors of its mouth, ringed about with fearsome teeth?
15 Its back has rows of shields tightly sealed together;
16 each is so close to the next that no air can pass between.

Cross References 1

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