Discovery BoxJob 41:26-34
Context41:26 Whoever strikes it with a sword 1
will have no effect, 2
nor with the spear, arrow, or dart.
41:27 It regards iron as straw
and bronze as rotten wood.
41:28 Arrows 3 do not make it flee;
slingstones become like chaff to it.
41:29 A club is counted 4 as a piece of straw;
it laughs at the rattling of the lance.
41:30 Its underparts 5 are the sharp points of potsherds,
it leaves its mark in the mud
like a threshing sledge. 6
41:31 It makes the deep boil like a cauldron
and stirs up the sea like a pot of ointment, 7
41:32 It leaves a glistening wake behind it;
one would think the deep had a head of white hair.
41:33 The likes of it is not on earth,
a creature 8 without fear.
41:34 It looks on every haughty being;
it is king over all that are proud.” 9
[41:26] 1 tn This is the clearest reading, following A. B. Davidson, Job, 285. The versions took different readings of the construction.
[41:26] 2 tn The verb קוּם (qum, “stand”) with בְּלִי (bÿli, “not”) has the sense of “does not hold firm,” or “gives way.”
[41:28] 3 tn Heb “the son of the bow.”
[41:29] 4 tn The verb is plural, but since there is no expressed subject it is translated as a passive here.
[41:30] 6 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.”
[41:31] 7 sn The idea is either that the sea is stirred up like the foam from beating the ingredients together, or it is the musk-smell that is the point of comparison.
[41:33] 8 tn Heb “one who was made.”
[41:34] 9 tn Heb “the sons of pride.” Dhorme repoints the last word to get “all the wild beasts,” but this misses the point of the verse. This animal looks over every proud creature – but he is king of them all in that department.
