41:24 Its heart 1 is hard as rock,
hard as a lower millstone.
37:18 will you, with him, spread out 2 the clouds,
solid as a mirror of molten metal?
38:38 when the dust hardens 3 into a mass,
and the clumps of earth stick together?
1 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.
2 tn The verb means “to beat out; to flatten,” and the analogy in the next line will use molten metal. From this verb is derived the word for the “firmament” in Gen 1:6-8, that canopy-like pressure area separating water above and water below.
3 tn The word means “to flow” or “to cast” (as in casting metals). So the noun developed the sense of “hard,” as in cast metal.