Text -- Job 26:13-14 (NET)

26:13 By his breath the skies became fair; his hand pierced the fleeing serpent. 26:14 Indeed, these are but the outer fringes of his ways! How faint is the whisper we hear of him! But who can understand the thunder of his power?”

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Job 26:13

¹ tn Or “wind”; or perhaps “Spirit.” The same Hebrew word, רוּחַ (ruakh), may be translated as “wind,” “breath,” or “spirit/Spirit” depending on the context.

² sn Here too is a reference to pagan views indirectly. The fleeing serpent was a designation for Leviathan, whom the book will simply describe as an animal, but the pagans thought to be a monster of the deep. God’s power over nature is associated with defeat of pagan gods (see further W. F. Albright, Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan; idem, BASOR 53 [1941]: 39).

NET Notes: Job 26:14

¹ tn Heb “the ends of his ways,” meaning “the fringes.”

² tn Heb “how little is the word.” Here “little” means a “fraction” or an “echo.”