Job 41:20

20 Smoke streams from its nostrils like steam from a pot heated over burning rushes.

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.

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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 “When it sneezes, it flashes light! Its eyes are like the red of dawn.

19 Lightning leaps from its mouth; flames of fire flash out.

20 Smoke streams from its nostrils like steam from a pot heated over burning rushes.

21 Its breath would kindle coals, for flames shoot from its mouth.

22 “The tremendous strength in Leviathan’s neck strikes terror wherever it goes.