Job 41:30

30 His underparts are like sharp potsherds; he spreads himself like a threshing sledge on the mire.

Job 41:30 Meaning and Commentary

Job 41:30

Sharp stones [are] under him
And yet give him no pain nor uneasiness;

he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire;
and makes his bed of them and lies upon them; as sharp stones, as before, shells of fishes, broken pieces of darts, arrows, and javelins thrown at him, which fall around him: this does not so well agree with the crocodile, the skin of whose belly is soft and thin; wherefore dolphins plunge under it and cut it with a thorn, as Pliny F8 relates, or with spiny fins F9; but with the whale, which lies among hard rocks and sharp stones, and large cutting pieces of ice, as in the northern seas.


FOOTNOTES:

F8 Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 25.
F9 Sandys's Travels, l. 2. p. 78.

Job 41:30 In-Context

28 The arrow cannot make him flee; for him slingstones are turned to stubble.
29 Clubs are counted as stubble; he laughs at the rattle of javelins.
30 His underparts are like sharp potsherds; he spreads himself like a threshing sledge on the mire.
31 He makes the deep boil like a pot; he makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
32 Behind him he leaves a shining wake; one would think the deep to be hoary.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the 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.