Text -- Job 40:17-24 (NET)

40:17 It makes its tail stiff 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, the One who made it has furnished it with a sword. 40:20 For the hills bring it food, 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 shadow; the poplars by the stream conceal it. 40:23 If the river rages, it is not disturbed, it is secure, though the Jordan should surge up to its mouth. 40:24 Can anyone catch it by its eyes, or pierce its nose with a snare?

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Job 40:17

¹ 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.

NET Notes: Job 40:19

¹ tn Heb “the ways of God.”

sn This may be a reference to Gen 1:24, where the first of the animal creation was the cattle – bÿhemah (בְּהֵמָה).

² 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).

NET Notes: Job 40:20

¹ 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.

NET Notes: Job 40:22

¹ tn The suffix is singular, but must refer to the trees’ shade.

NET Notes: Job 40:23

¹ 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”).

² tn Or “he remains calm.”

NET Notes: Job 40:24

¹ 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).

² tn Ehrlich altered the MT slightly to get “with thorns,” a view accepted by Driver, Dhorme and Pope.