Ayub 41:19-26

41:19 Out of its mouth go flames, ¹ 

sparks of fire shoot forth!

41:20 Smoke streams from its nostrils

as from a boiling pot over burning ²  rushes.

41:21 Its breath sets coals ablaze

and a flame shoots from its mouth.

41:22 Strength lodges in its neck,

and despair ³  runs before it.

41:23 The folds ⁴  of its flesh are tightly joined;

they are firm on it, immovable. ⁵ 

41:24 Its heart ⁶  is hard as rock,

hard as a lower millstone.

41:25 When it rises up, the mighty are terrified,

at its thrashing about they withdraw. ⁷ 

41:26 Whoever strikes it with a sword ⁸ 

will have no effect, ⁹ 

nor with the spear, arrow, or dart.

[41:19]  ¹ sn For the animal, the image is that of pent-up breath with water in a hot steam jet coming from its mouth, like a stream of fire in the rays of the sun. The language is hyperbolic, probably to reflect the pagan ideas of the dragon of the deep in a polemical way – they feared it as a fire breathing monster, but in reality it might have been a steamy crocodile.

[41:20]  ² tn The word “burning” is supplied. The Syriac and Vulgate have “a seething and boiling pot” (reading אֹגֵם [’ogem] for אַגְמֹן [’agmon]). This view is widely accepted.

[41:22]  ³ tn This word, דְּאָבָה (dÿ’avah) is a hapax legomenon. But the verbal root means “to languish; to pine.” A related noun talks of dejection and despair in Deut 28:65. So here “despair” as a translation is preferable to “terror.”

[41:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “fallings.”

[41:23]  ⁵ tn The last clause says “it cannot be moved.” But this part will function adverbially in the sentence.

[41:24]  ⁶ tn The description of his heart being “hard” means that he is cruel and fearless. The word for “hard” is the word encountered before for molten or cast metal.

[41:25]  ⁷ tc This verse has created all kinds of problems for the commentators. The first part is workable: “when he raises himself up, the mighty [the gods] are terrified.” The mythological approach would render אֵלִים (’elim) as “gods.” But the last two words, which could be rendered “at the breaking [crashing, or breakers] they fail,” receive much attention. E. Dhorme (Job, 639) suggests “majesty” for “raising up” and “billows” (גַּלִּים, gallim) for אֵלִים (’elim), and gets a better parallelism: “the billows are afraid of his majesty, and the waves draw back.” But H. H. Rowley (Job [NCBC], 263) does not think this is relevant to the context, which is talking about the creature’s defense against attack. The RSV works well for the first part, but the second part need some change; so Rowley adopts “in their dire consternation they are beside themselves.”

[41:26]  ⁸ tn This is the clearest reading, following A. B. Davidson, Job, 285. The versions took different readings of the construction.

[41:26]  ⁹ tn The verb קוּם (qum, “stand”) with בְּלִי (bÿli, “not”) has the sense of “does not hold firm,” or “gives way.”