Job 41:19

19 From its mouth go flaming torches; sparks of fire leap out.

Job 41:19 Meaning and Commentary

Job 41:19

Out of his mouth go burning lamps, [and] sparks of fire leap
out.
] Which, though hyperbolical expressions, have some foundation for them in the latter; in the vast quantities of water thrown out by the whale, through its mouth or hole in its frontispiece, which in the sun may look like lamps and sparks of fire, as before observed; and especially in the "orcae", or whales with teeth, which eject in the same way an oily mucus, or the fat liquor of the brain, commonly called spermaceti, which may appear more bright and glittering. Ovid F20 says much the same of the boar as is here said of the leviathan.


FOOTNOTES:

F20 "Fulmen ab ore venit; frondesque adflatibus ardent". Metamorph. c. 8. Fab. 4.

Job 41:19 In-Context

17 They are joined one to another; they clasp each other and cannot be separated.
18 Its sneezes flash forth light, and its eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.
19 From its mouth go flaming torches; sparks of fire leap out.
20 Out of its nostrils comes smoke, as from a boiling pot and burning rushes.
21 Its breath kindles coals, and a flame comes out of its mouth.
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.