Job 41:32

32 When it swims, it leaves a shining path in the water that makes the sea look as if it had white hair.

Job 41:32 Meaning and Commentary

Job 41:32

He maketh a path to shine after him
Upon the sea, by raising a white from upon it, through its vehement motion as it passes along, or by the spermaceti it casts out and leaves behind it. It is said ^F19 that whales will cut and plough the sea in such a manner, as to leave a shining glittering path behind them, the length of a German mile, which is three of ours;

[one] would think the deep [to be] hoary;
to be old and grey headed, or white like the hair of the head of an old man, a figure often used of the sea by poets ^F20; and hence "Nereus" ^F21, which is the sea, is said to be an old man, because the froth in the waves of it looks like white hair.

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FOOTNOTES:

F19 Vid. Scheuchzer. ibid. (vol. 4.) p. 853.
F20 (polihv alov) , Homer. Iliad. 1. v. 350. (polihv yalasshv) , Iliad. 4. v. 248. "incanuit unda", Catullus.
F21 Phurnutus de Natura Deorum, p. 63.

Job 41:32 In-Context

30 The underside of its body is like broken pieces of pottery. It leaves a trail in the mud like a threshing board.

31 It makes the deep sea bubble like a boiling pot; it stirs up the sea like a pot of oil.

32 When it swims, it leaves a shining path in the water that makes the sea look as if it had white hair.

33 Nothing else on earth is equal to it; it is a creature without fear.

34 It looks down on all those who are too proud; it is king over all proud creatures."