Job 41:22

22 Strength shall dwell in his neck, and neediness shall go (away from) before his face.

Job 41:22 Meaning and Commentary

Job 41:22

In his neck remaineth strength
This is thought to be an argument against the whale, which is said to have no neck: but whatever joins the head and body may be called the neck, though ever so small; and the shorter the neck is, the stronger it is. It is also said by some, that the crocodile has no neck also; but the philosopher ^F24 is express for it, that it has one and moves it: and Pliny ^F25 speaks of it as turning its head upwards, which it could not do without a neck;

and sorrow is turned into joy before him;
or leaps and dances before him; it departs from him: he is not afraid of anything, though ever so threatening. Or sorrow and distress at the sight of him, in men and fishes, make them leap, and hasten to get out of the way of him and escape him.

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FOOTNOTES:

F24 Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 9. c. 6. & Part. Animal l. 4. c. 11.
F25 Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 25.

Job 41:22 In-Context

20 Smoke cometh forth of his nostrils, as a boiling pot set upon the fire. (Smoke cometh forth from his nostrils, like a boiling pot put on the fire.)

21 His breath maketh coals to burn, and (a) flame goeth out of his mouth.

22 Strength shall dwell in his neck, and neediness shall go (away from) before his face.

23 The members of his flesh be cleaving together to themselves; God shall send floods against him, and those shall not be borne over to another place.

24 His heart shall be made (as) hard as a stone; and it shall be constrained (al)together as the anvil of a smith (and it shall be firm and unyielding, like the anvil of a smith).