Job 41:2

2 Whether thou shalt put a ring in his nostrils, either shalt pierce his cheek[bone] with an hook? (Shalt thou put a ring in his nostrils, or pierce his cheekbone with a hook?)

Job 41:2 Meaning and Commentary

Job 41:2

Canst thou put an hook into his nose?
&c.] Or a rush, that is, a rope made of rushes; for of such ropes were made, as Pliny ^F7 affirms;

or bore his jaw through with a thorn?
as men do herrings, or such like small fish, for the convenience of carrying them, or hanging them up to dry; the whale is not to be used in such a manner: but the Tentyritae, a people in Egypt, great enemies to crocodiles, had methods of taking thorn in nets, and of binding and bridling them, and carrying them as they pleased ^F8.

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 Nat. Hist. l. 19. c. 2.
F8 Strabo. Geograph. l. 17. p. 560. Aelian. de Animal. l. 10. c. 21. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 25.

Job 41:2 In-Context

1 Whether thou shalt be able to draw out Leviathan with an hook, and shalt bind with a rope his tongue? (Shalt thou be able to draw out this Leviathan with a hook, or bind his tongue with a rope?)

2 Whether thou shalt put a ring in his nostrils, either shalt pierce his cheek[bone] with an hook? (Shalt thou put a ring in his nostrils, or pierce his cheekbone with a hook?)

3 Whether he shall multiply prayers to thee, either shall speak soft things to thee? (Shall he say many prayers to thee, pleading and begging, or speak soft things to thee?)

4 Whether he shall make a covenant with thee, and shalt thou take him (for) a servant everlasting? (Shall he make a covenant with thee, and then shalt thou make him thy everlasting servant?)

5 Whether thou shalt scorn him as a bird, either shalt thou bind him to thine handmaidens? (Shalt thou scorn him like a bird, or shalt thou bind him up for thy servantesses?)