Ayub 41:3-4

41:3 Will it make numerous supplications to you, ¹ 

will it speak to you with tender words? ² 

41:4 Will it make a pact ³  with you,

so you could take it ⁴  as your slave for life?

Ayub 41:25

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

at its thrashing about they withdraw. ⁵ 

[41:3]  ¹ 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]  ² tn The rhetorical question again affirms the opposite. The poem is portraying the creature as powerful and insensitive.

[41:4]  ³ tn Heb “will he cut a covenant.”

[41:4]  ⁴ tn The imperfect verb serves to express what the covenant pact would cover, namely, “that you take.”

[41:25]  ⁵ 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.”