Ayub 40:15--41:10
Konteks40:15 “Look now at Behemoth, 2 which I made as 3 I made you;
it eats grass like the ox.
40:16 Look 4 at its strength in its loins,
and its power in the muscles of its belly.
40:17 It makes its tail stiff 5 like a cedar,
the sinews of its thighs are tightly wound.
40:18 Its bones are tubes of bronze,
its limbs like bars of iron.
40:19 It ranks first among the works of God, 6
the One who made it
has furnished it with a sword. 7
40:20 For the hills bring it food, 8
where all the wild animals play.
40:21 Under the lotus trees it lies,
in the secrecy of the reeds and the marsh.
40:22 The lotus trees conceal it in their 9 shadow;
the poplars by the stream conceal it.
40:23 If the river rages, 10 it is not disturbed,
it is secure, 11 though the Jordan
should surge up to its mouth.
40:24 Can anyone catch it by its eyes, 12
or pierce its nose with a snare? 13
41:1 (40:25) 14 “Can you pull in 15 Leviathan with a hook,
and tie down 16 its tongue with a rope?
41:2 Can you put a cord through its nose,
or pierce its jaw with a hook?
41:3 Will it make numerous supplications to you, 17
will it speak to you with tender words? 18
41:4 Will it make a pact 19 with you,
so you could take it 20 as your slave for life?
41:5 Can you play 21 with it, like a bird,
or tie it on a leash 22 for your girls?
41:6 Will partners 23 bargain 24 for it?
Will they divide it up 25 among the merchants?
41:7 Can you fill its hide with harpoons
or its head with fishing spears?
41:8 If you lay your hand on it,
you will remember 26 the fight,
and you will never do it again!
41:9 (41:1) 27 See, his expectation is wrong, 28
he is laid low even at the sight of it. 29
41:10 Is it not fierce 30 when it is awakened?
Who is he, then, who can stand before it? 31
[40:15] 1 sn The next ten verses are devoted to a portrayal of Behemoth (the name means “beast” in Hebrew). It does not fit any of the present material very well, and so many think the section is a later addition. Its style is more like that of a textbook. Moreover, if the animal is a real animal (the usual suggestion is the hippopotamus), then the location of such an animal is Egypt and not Palestine. Some have identified these creatures Behemoth and Leviathan as mythological creatures (Gunkel, Pope). Others point out that these creatures could have been dinosaurs (P. J. Maarten, NIDOTTE, 2:780; H. M. Morris, The Remarkable Record of Job, 115-22). Most would say they are real animals, but probably mythologized by the pagans. So the pagan reader would receive an additional impact from this point about God’s sovereignty over all nature.
[40:15] 2 sn By form the word is the feminine plural of the Hebrew word for “beast.” Here it is an abstract word – a title.
[40:15] 3 tn Heb “with you.” The meaning could be temporal (“when I made you”) – perhaps a reference to the sixth day of creation (Gen 1:24).
[40:16] 4 tn In both of these verses הִנֶּה (hinneh, “behold”) has the deictic force (the word is from Greek δείκνυμι, deiknumi, “to show”). It calls attention to something by pointing it out. The expression goes with the sudden look, the raised eye, the pointing hand – “O look!”
[40:17] 5 tn The verb חָפַץ (khafats) occurs only here. It may have the meaning “to make stiff; to make taut” (Arabic). The LXX and the Syriac versions support this with “erects.” But there is another Arabic word that could be cognate, meaning “arch, bend.” This would give the idea of the tail swaying. The other reading seems to make better sense here. However, “stiff” presents a serious problem with the view that the animal is the hippopotamus.
[40:19] 6 tn Heb “the ways of God.”
[40:19] sn This may be a reference to Gen 1:24, where the first of the animal creation was the cattle – bÿhemah (בְּהֵמָה).
[40:19] 7 tc The literal reading of the MT is “let the one who made him draw near [with] his sword.” The sword is apparently a reference to the teeth or tusks of the animal, which cut vegetation like a sword. But the idea of a weapon is easier to see, and so the people who favor the mythological background see here a reference to God’s slaying the Beast. There are again many suggestions on how to read the line. The RV probably has the safest: “He that made him has furnished him with his sword” (the sword being a reference to the sharp tusks with which he can attack).
[40:20] 8 tn The word בּוּל (bul) probably refers to food. Many take it as an abbreviated form of יְבוּל (yÿvul, “produce of the field”). The vegetation that is produced on the low hills is what is meant.
[40:22] 9 tn The suffix is singular, but must refer to the trees’ shade.
[40:23] 10 tn The word ordinarily means “to oppress.” So many commentators have proposed suitable changes: “overflows” (Beer), “gushes” (Duhm), “swells violently” (Dhorme, from a word that means “be strong”).
[40:23] 11 tn Or “he remains calm.”
[40:24] 12 tn The idea would be either (1) catch it while it is watching, or (2) in some way disabling its eyes before the attack. But others change the reading; Ball suggested “with hooks” and this has been adopted by some modern English versions (e.g., NRSV).
[40:24] 13 tn Ehrlich altered the MT slightly to get “with thorns,” a view accepted by Driver, Dhorme and Pope.
[41:1] 14 sn Beginning with 41:1, the verse numbers through 41:9 in the English Bible differ from the verse numbers in the Hebrew text (BHS), with 41:1 ET = 40:25 HT, 41:2 ET = 40:26 HT, etc., through 41:34 ET = 41:26 HT. The Hebrew verse numbers in the remainder of the chapter differ from the verse numbers in the English Bible. Beginning with 42:1 the verse numbers in the ET and HT are again the same.
[41:1] 15 tn The verb מָשַׁךְ (mashakh) means “to extract from the water; to fish.” The question here includes the use of a hook to fish the creature out of the water so that its jaws can be tied safely.
[41:1] 16 tn The verb שָׁקַע (shaqa’) means “to cause to sink,” if it is connected with the word in Amos 8:8 and 9:5. But it may have the sense of “to tie; to bind.” If the rope were put around the tongue and jaw, binding tightly would be the sense.
[41:3] 17 tn The line asks if the animal, when caught and tied and under control, would keep on begging for mercy. Absolutely not. It is not in the nature of the beast. The construction uses יַרְבֶּה (yarbeh, “[will] he multiply” [= “make numerous”]), with the object, “supplications” i.e., prayers for mercy.
[41:3] 18 tn The rhetorical question again affirms the opposite. The poem is portraying the creature as powerful and insensitive.
[41:4] 19 tn Heb “will he cut a covenant.”
[41:4] 20 tn The imperfect verb serves to express what the covenant pact would cover, namely, “that you take.”
[41:5] 21 tn The Hebrew verb is שָׂחַק (sakhaq, “to sport; to trifle; to play,” Ps 104:26).
[41:5] 22 tn The idea may include putting Leviathan on a leash. D. W. Thomas suggested on the basis of an Arabic cognate that it could be rendered “tie him with a string like a young sparrow” (VT 14 [1964]: 114ff.).
[41:6] 23 tn The word חָבַּר (khabbar) is a hapax legomenon, but the meaning is “to associate” since it is etymologically related to the verb “to join together.” The idea is that fishermen usually work in companies or groups, and then divide up the catch when they come ashore – which involves bargaining.
[41:6] 24 tn The word כָּרַה (karah) means “to sell.” With the preposition עַל (’al, “upon”) it has the sense “to bargain over something.”
[41:6] 25 tn The verb means “to cut up; to divide up” in the sense of selling the dead body (see Exod 21:35). This will be between them and the merchants (כְּנַעֲנִים, kÿna’anim).
[41:8] 26 tn The verse uses two imperatives which can be interpreted in sequence: do this, and then this will happen.
[41:9] 27 sn Job 41:9 in the English Bible is 41:1 in the Hebrew text (BHS). From here to the end of the chapter the Hebrew verse numbers differ from those in the English Bible, with 41:10 ET = 41:2 HT, 41:11 ET = 41:3 HT, etc. See also the note on 41:1.
[41:9] 28 tn The line is difficult. “His hope [= expectation]” must refer to any assailant who hopes or expects to capture the creature. Because there is no antecedent, Dhorme and others transpose it with the next verse. The point is that the man who thought he was sufficient to confront Leviathan soon finds his hope – his expectation – false (a derivative from the verb כָּזַב [kazab, “lie”] is used for a mirage).
[41:9] 29 tn There is an interrogative particle in this line, which most commentators ignore. But others freely emend the MT. Gunkel, following the mythological approach, has “his appearance casts down even a god.” Cheyne likewise has: “even divine beings the fear of him brings low” (JQR 9 [1896/97]: 579). Pope has, “Were not the gods cast down at the sight of him?” There is no need to bring in this mythological element.
[41:10] 30 sn The description is of the animal, not the hunter (or fisherman). Leviathan is so fierce that no one can take him on alone.
[41:10] 31 tc MT has “before me” and can best be rendered as “Who then is he that can stand before me?” (ESV, NASB, NIV, NLT, NJPS). The following verse (11) favors the MT since both express the lesson to be learned from Leviathan: If a man cannot stand up to Leviathan, how can he stand up to its creator? The translation above has chosen to read the text as “before him” (cf. NRSV, NJB).
