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Ellicott's Commentary On The Whole Bible

Job 41:1

XLI.

(1) Leviathan. — There can be little doubt that by this is meant the crocodile or alligator, whatever may be the true meaning of behemoth.

Or his tongue... — Some render, “or press down his tongue with a cord”; but the Authorised Version seems preferable.

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See also Job 41:1 in other biblical comments:

  • Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

    CHAPTER XLI _God's great power in the leviathan, of which creature he gives_ _a very circumstantial description_, 1-34. NOTES ON CHAP. XLI Verse Job 41:1. _CANST THOU DRAW OUT LEVIATHAN_] We come...

  • Albert Barnes' Bible Commentary

    CANST THOU DRAW OUT - As a fish is drawn out of the water. The usual method by which fish were taken was with a hook; and the meaning here is, that it was not possible to take the leviathan in this ma...

  • Annotated Bible by A.C. Gaebelein

    CHAPTER 41 _ 1. Leviathan, the untamable beast of power (Job 41:1)_ 2. Its description (Job 41:12) 3. His remarkable strength (Job 41:25)...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    JOB 40:15 TO JOB 41:34. BEHEMOTH AND LEVIATHAN. Most scholars regard this passage as a later addition to the poem. The point of Job 40:8 is God's reply to Job's criticism of His righteousness; the des...

  • Arthur Peake's Commentary on the Bible

    JOB 41. LEVIATHAN. The author regards the crocodile as impossible of capture. In Job 41:1 b perhaps the meaning is that when caught the crocodile cannot be led about by a rope round his tongue and low...

  • Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

    CANST THOU... ? Note the Figure of speech _Erotesis_ (App-6) throughout this chapter. LEVIATHAN _ :_ probably the crocodile....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    Job 40:6 to Job 42:6. The Lord's Second Answer to Job out of the Storm Shall Man charge God with unrighteousness in His Rule of the World? All that the first speech of the Lord touched upon was the...

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    The impossibility of capturing the animal....

  • Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

    The second clause appears to mean, Wilt thou press down his tongue with a cord? The "cord" may be that of the hook; when the hook is swallowed and the cord drawn tightly, it presses down the tongue....

  • Coke's Commentary on the Holy Bible

    _GOD'S GREAT POWER IN THE LEVIATHAN._ _Before Christ 1645._ _JOB 41:1. CANST THOU DRAW OUT LEVIATHAN_— לויתן _leviathan, is derived from_ לוה _lavah, coupled,_ and תן _ten, a dragon, i.e. a large se...

  • College Press Bible Study Textbook Series

    TEXT 41:1-34 41 Canst thou draw out leviathan with a fishhook? Or press down his tongue with a cord? 2 Canst thou put a rope Into his nose? Or pierce his jaw through with a hook? 3 Will he make ma...

  • Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

    _CANST THOU DRAW OUT LEVIATHAN WITH AN HOOK? OR HIS TONGUE WITH A CORD WHICH THOU LETTEST DOWN?_ Leviathan - Latin, the twisted animal, gathering itself in folds. The last syllable, than, appertains...

  • Darby's translation notes (1890)

    41:1 leviathan (e-6) The crocodile, it would seem, as ch. 3.8. cord? (f-17) Or 'and his tongue, with a cord which thou wilt sink?'...

  • Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible

    THE SECOND SPEECH OF THE ALMIGHTY (CONCLUDED) The second great creature, the Crocodile (with which the 'leviathan' is generally identified) is now described. If Job cannot control the crocodile, dare...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    At the end of God’s speech, God described another strong animal. We think that God was describing a dangerous animal called the crocodile. The crocodile lives in rivers. But it can also walk on the la...

  • EasyEnglish Bible Commentaries

    JOB, A SERVANT OF GOD Job _KEITH SIMONS_ Words in boxes (except for words in brackets) are from the Bible. This commentary has been through Advanced Checking. CHAPTER 41 GOD FINISHES HIS SPEECH...

  • ETCBC data on Hebrew bible

    _[Job 40:25]_ תִּמְשֹׁ֣ךְ לִוְיָתָ֣ן בְּ חַכָּ֑ה וּ֝...

  • Expositor's Bible Commentary (Nicoll)

    XXVIII. THE RECONCILIATION Job 38:1 - Job 42:6 THE main argument of the address ascribed to the Almighty is contained in Chapter s 38 and 39 and in the opening verses of chapter 42. Job makes submis...

  • Frederick Brotherton Meyer's Commentary

    THE PARABLE OF THE CROCODILE Job 41:1 The last paragraph described the hippopotamus; the whole of this chapter is devoted to the crocodile. In a series of striking questions the voice of the Almighty...

  • G. Campbell Morgan's Exposition on the Whole Bible

    Leviathan is almost certainly the crocodile, and there is the playfulness of a great tenderness in the suggestions Jehovah makes to Job about these fierce creations. Can Job catch him with a rope or a...

  • Geneva Study Bible Commentary

    Canst thou draw out (l) leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord [which] thou lettest down? (l) Meaning the whale....

  • George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

    I. Hebrew, "None is so fierce that dare stir it up." (Haydock) --- Cruel, or rash, like those to Tentyra, chap. iii. 8. (Calmet) --- This monster is terrible to those that flee, while it retires from...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    (1) В¶ Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down? (2) Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn? (3) Will he make m...

  • Hawker's Poor man's commentary

    CONTENTS The Lord is still the speaker, through the whole of this chapter. Having before given an instance of the sovereignty of his power, in the creation and government of the largest of land creat...

  • John Darby's Synopsis

    THE FOLLOWING COMMENTARY COVERS CHAPTER S 38 THROUGH 42. Jehovah then speaks, and addressing Job, carries on the subject. He makes Job sensible of his nothingness. Job confesses himself to be vile, an...

  • John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

    CANST THOU DRAW OUT LEVIATHAN WITH AN HOOK?.... That is, draw it out of the sea or river as anglers draw out smaller fishes with a line or hook? the question suggests it cannot be done; whether by the...

  • John Trapp Complete Commentary

    Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord [which] thou lettest down? Ver. 1. _Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook?_] As men use to do the lesser fishes in angling?...

  • Joseph Benson’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    _Canst thou draw out leviathan with a hook?_ It is a great question among learned men, what creature is meant by לויתן, _leviathan._ Our translators were evidently uncertain respecting it, and therefo...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    JOB'S WEAKNESS WHEN COMPARED WITH THE STRENGTH OF THE CROCODILE...

  • Kretzmann's Popular Commentary of the Bible

    Canst thou draw out leviathan, the great and fierce crocodile of Egypt and other Mediterranean countries, WITH AN HOOK, or purse-net, OR HIS TONGUE WITH A CORD WHICH THOU LETTEST DOWN? Rather, "Into t...

  • Leslie M. Grant's Commentary on the Bible

    LEVIATHAN (vv.1-34) Leviathan was a water creature, and appears to be the crocodile, the most fearsome of all aquatic beasts, unless it was another similar animal, now extinct. Job could use a hook...

  • Marginal Notes in the King James Version (1611)

    LEVIATHAN: That is, a whale or a whirlpool WHICH THOU LETTEST DOWN?: _ Heb._ which thou drownest...

  • Mark Dunagan Commentaries

    This is. creature that can neither be hooked nor roped. Herodotus says that the Egyptians tamed the crocodile, but if this is. description of the crocodile, God may be speaking about. more ancient and...

  • Matthew Poole's Concise Commentary On The Bible

    JOB CHAPTER 41 God's kingly power and authority above all the children of pride seen in the leviathan. Canst thou take him with a hook and a line, as anglers take ordinary fishes? Surely no. QUEST. Wh...

  • Patchworkid's Personal Study Bible Notes

    Job 41:1 out H4900 (H8799) Leviathan H3882 hook H2443 tongue H3956 line H2256 lower H8257 (H8686)...

  • Summarized Bible Commentary

    CONTENTS: God's challenge to Job concluded. CHARACTERS: God, Job. CONCLUSION: Man is utterly unable to contend against the Almighty. If the inferior creatures keep man in awe, how wonderful must the...

  • Sutcliffe's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

    Job 41:1. _Canst thou draw out leviathan?_ This word is rendered by the LXX, “dragon.” It occurs in Isaiah 27:1, and is rendered _whale, dragon,_ and _serpent._ Men are now satisfied that it is not th...

  • The Biblical Illustrator

    _Canst thou draw out Leviathan?_ BEHEMOTH AND LEVIATHAN The description of the “behemoth” in the preceding chapter and the “leviathan” here suggests a few moral reflections. I. The prodigality of c...

  • The ESV Global Study Bible's Study Notes

    JOB—NOTE ON JOB 41:1 The Lord describes the power of LEVIATHAN in terms of man’s inability to subdue him. He compares such power to his own (vv. Job 41:9)....

  • The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary

    NOTES Job 41:1. “_Canst thou draw out Leviathan with a hook_.” The term “Leviathan” (לִוְיָתָן) rendered here by the SEPTUAGINT, SYRIAC, and ARABIC, “the dragon.” The VULGATE and TARGUM leave it untra...

  • The Pulpit Commentaries

    EXPOSITION JOB 41:1 The crowning description of a natural marvel—the "leviathan," or crocodile—is now given, and with an elaboration to which there is no parallel in the rest of Scripture. It forms,...

  • Through The Bible C2000 Serie by Chuck Smith

    And then in the next chapter God speaks of the leviathan. Now just what the leviathan is, they're not quite sure. Some think that it is perhaps a crocodile, some think that it's perhaps even a dragon,...

  • Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

    Isaiah 27:1; Job 3:8; Psalms 104:26; Psalms 74:14...

  • Wesley's Explanatory Notes

    Leviathan — Several particulars in the following description, agree far better with the crocodile, than the whale. It is highly probable, that this is the creature here spoken of. Cord — Canst thou ta...

  • When Critics Ask: A Popular Handbook on Bible Difficulties, Norman L. Geisler and Thomas Howe, 1960

    Does this passage make reference to the mythological figure Leviathan? PROBLEM: Job 41:1 makes reference to the mythological figure Leviathan. But, how can the Bible talk about Leviathan as if it wer...

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