Ayub 41:2-3

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, ¹ 

will it speak to you with tender words? ² 

[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.