20:25 When he pulls it out 1 and it comes out of his back,
the gleaming point 2 out of his liver,
terrors come over him.
41:30 Its underparts 3 are the sharp points of potsherds,
it leaves its mark in the mud
like a threshing sledge. 4
41:26 Whoever strikes it with a sword 5
will have no effect, 6
nor with the spear, arrow, or dart.
39:23 On it the quiver rattles;
the lance and javelin 7 flash.
41:7 Can you fill its hide with harpoons
or its head with fishing spears?
39:28 It lives on a rock and spends the night there,
on a rocky crag 8 and a fortress. 9
1 tn The MT has “he draws out [or as a passive, “it is drawn out/forth”] and comes [or goes] out of his back.” For the first verb שָׁלַף (shalaf, “pull, draw”), many commentators follow the LXX and use שֶׁלַח (shelakh, “a spear”). It then reads “and a shaft comes out of his back,” a sword flash comes out of his liver.” But the verse could also be a continuation of the preceding.
2 tn Possibly a reference to lightnings.
3 tn Heb “under him.”
4 tn Here only the word “sharp” is present, but in passages like Isa 41:15 it is joined with “threshing sledge.” Here and in Amos 1:3 and Isa 28:27 the word stands alone, but represents the “sledge.”
5 tn This is the clearest reading, following A. B. Davidson, Job, 285. The versions took different readings of the construction.
6 tn The verb קוּם (qum, “stand”) with בְּלִי (bÿli, “not”) has the sense of “does not hold firm,” or “gives way.”
7 tn This may be the scimitar (see G. Molin, “What is a kidon?” JSS 1 [1956]: 334-37).
9 tn Heb “upon the tooth of a rock.”
10 tn The word could be taken as the predicate, but because of the conjunction it seems to be adding another description of the place of its nest.