41:22 Strength lodges in its neck,
and despair 1 runs before it.
41:23 The folds 2 of its flesh are tightly joined;
they are firm on it, immovable. 3
41:24 Its heart 4 is hard as rock,
hard as a lower millstone.
1 tn This word, דְּאָבָה (dÿ’avah) is a hapax legomenon. But the verbal root means “to languish; to pine.” A related noun talks of dejection and despair in Deut 28:65. So here “despair” as a translation is preferable to “terror.”
2 tn Heb “fallings.”
3 tn The last clause says “it cannot be moved.” But this part will function adverbially in the sentence.
3 tn The description of his heart being “hard” means that he is cruel and fearless. The word for “hard” is the word encountered before for molten or cast metal.