Job 40:19

He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
chief	רֵאשִׁ֣ית re.Shit	H7225	the first · noun, common feminine singular construct
ways	דַּרְכֵי dar.khei-	H1870	a road (as trodden) · noun, common both genders plural construct
God	אֵ֑ל 'El	H410	strength · noun, common masculine singular absolute
made	הָ֝עֹשׂוֹ ha.'o.so	H6213	to do or make · definite article + verb, qal active participle, masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
make	יַגֵּ֥שׁ ya.Gesh	H5066	to be or come (causatively · verb, hiphil jussive, 3rd person masculine singular
sword	חַרְבּֽוֹ char.Bo	H2719	drought · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
approach	נָגַשׁ nâgash	H5066	to be or come (causatively

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Job 41:33 Upon earth there is not his like, who is made without fear.
Job 26:13 By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.
Psalms 7:12 If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready.
Psalms 104:24 O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.
Isaiah 27:1 In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpe…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 40:15–end

God, for the further proving of his own power and disproving of Job's pretensions, concludes his discourse with the description of two vast and mighty animals, far exceeding man in bulk and strength, one he calls behemoth, the other leviathan. In these verses we have the former described. "Behold now behemoth, and consider whether thou art able to contend with him who made that beast and gave him all the power he has, and whether it is not thy wisdom rather to submit to him and make thy peace with him." Behemoth signifies beasts in general, but must here be meant of some one particular species. Some understand it of the bull; others of an amphibious animal, well known (they say) in Egypt, ca…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 40:19

Chief of the works of God; so "ways" (Job 26:14; Pro 8:22). can make his sword to approach--rather, "has furnished him with his sword" (harpe), namely, the sickle-like teeth with which he cuts down grain. English Version, however, is literally right.

Adam Clarke on Job 40:19

He is the chief of the ways of God - The largest, strongest, and swiftest quadruped that God has formed. He that made him - No power of man or beast can overcome him. God alone can overcome him, and God alone could make his sword (of extinction) approach to him.

John Gill on Job 40:19

He is the chief of the ways of God,.... Or the beginning of them, that is, of the works of God in creation; which must be restrained to animals, otherwise there were works wrought before any of them were created. There were none made before the fifth day of the creation, and on that day was the river horse made; in which respect it has the preference to the elephant, not made till the sixth day. But if this phrase is expressive of the superior excellency of behemoth over other works of God, as it seems to be, it must be limited to the kind of which it is; otherwise man is the chief of all God's ways or works, made either on the fifth or sixth day: and so as the elephant may be observed to be…

The Church Fathers

He is the chief of the ways of God. 47. As if He were plainly saying, He has strength sufficient for so many purposes, because in the nature of things the Creator made him first, when creating him in his substance. For what do we understand by the 'ways' of God, but His doings? Of which He says by the Prophet; For My ways are not as your ways. [Is. 55, 8] And Behemoth is said to be the chief of the ways of God, because doubtless when He was performing all the work of creation, He created him first, whom He made more eminent than the other Angels. The Prophet is looking at the eminence of this superiority, when he says, The cedars in the paradise of God were not higher, the fir trees equalled not his summit, the plane trees were not equal to his branches, nor any tree in the paradise of God was like him and his beauty, since He made him beautiful with his many and thick branches. [Ez. 31, 8. 9.] For who can be understood by cedars, fir trees, and planes, unless those bands of heavenly virtues of lofty height, planted in the verdure of eternal joy? But these, though created lofty, were yet neither preferred nor equalled to him. And he is said to have been made beautiful with his many and thick branches, because when he was created in the condition of his original blessedness, countless bands of Angels attended him.
— Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXXII

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Behemoth — (Job 40:15-24). Some have supposed this to be an Egyptian word meaning a “water-ox.” The Revised Version has here in the margin “hippopotamus,” which is probably the correct rendering of the word.…

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Job 40:19

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 40:15–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 40:19

Adam Clarke on Job 40:19

John Gill on Job 40:19

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Job 40:19

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 40:15–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 40:19

Adam Clarke on Job 40:19

John Gill on Job 40:19

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Keil & Delitzsch on Job 40:19–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Job 40:15-24

Rashi on Job 40:19