Job 41:22-24

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.

[41:22]  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.”

[41:23]  ² tn Heb “fallings.”

[41:23]  ³ tn The last clause says “it cannot be moved.” But this part will function adverbially in the sentence.

[41:24]  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.