an elevation or leprous scab · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
mighty
אַיִלʼayil
H352
properly
afraid
יָג֣וּרוּya.Gu.ru
H1481
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
breakings
מִ֝שְּׁבָרִ֗יםmi.she.va.Rim
H7667
a fracture · preposition + noun, common masculine plural absolute
purify
יִתְחַטָּֽאוּyit.cha.Ta.'u
H2398
properly · verb, hithpael imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
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
Psalms 107:28 Then they cry unto the LORD in their trouble, and he bringeth them out of their distresses.
Jonah 1:4-6 But the LORD sent out a great wind into the sea, and there was a mighty tempest in the sea, so that the ship was like to be broken.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 41:11–end
God, having in the foregoing verses shown Job how unable he was to deal with the leviathan, here sets forth his own power in that massy mighty creature. Here is,
I. God's sovereign dominion and independency laid down, Job 41:11. 1. That he is indebted to none of his creatures. If any pretend he is indebted to them, let them make their demand and prove their debt, and they shall receive it in full and not by composition: "Who has prevented me?" that is, "who has laid any obligations upon me by any services he has done me? Who can pretend to be before-hand with me? If any were, I would not long be behind-hand with them; I would soon repay them." The apostle quotes this for the silencing of all…
he--the crocodile; a type of the awe which the Creator inspires when He rises in wrath.
breakings--namely, of the mind, that is, terror.
purify themselves--rather, "they wander from the way," that is, flee away bewildered [MAURER and UMBREIT].
Adam Clarke on Job 41:25
By reason of breakings they purify themselves - No version, either ancient or modern, appears to have understood this verse; nor is its true sense known. The Septuagint have, "When he turns himself, he terrifies all the quadrupeds on the earth." The original is short and obscure: משברים יתחטאו mishshebarim yithchattau. Mr. Good takes the plural termination ים im, from the first word, of which he makes the noun ים yam, the sea, and thus translates it, "They are confounded at the tumult of the sea." In this I can find no more light than in our own. Mr. Heath has, "For very terror they fall to the ground." The translations of it are as unsatisfactory as they are various. I shall give both the v…
When he raiseth up himself,.... Not out of the waters, but above the surface of them, so as that his large bulk, his terrible jaws and teeth, are seem;
the mighty are afraid; not only fishes and other animals, but men, and these the most stouthearted and courageous, as mariners and masters of vessels;
by reason of breakings they purify themselves: either because of the breaches of the sea made through the lifting up of this creature, threatening the overturning of vessels; or of the breaches of men's hearts through fear, they are thrown into a vomiting, and purging both by stool and urine, which are often the effects of fear, so Ben Gersom; or they acknowledge themselves sinners, or expiat…
The Church Fathers
When he shall be taken away, the angels shall fear, and being affrighted shall be purified. 12. Holy Scripture often so mixes up past and future times, as sometimes to use the future for the past, sometimes the past for the future. For it uses the future for the past, when there is pointed out to John a woman, who is about to bring forth a male child, to rule the Gentiles with a rod of iron. [Rev. 12, 5] For since this had already taken place by the coming of the Lord in the flesh, an event which had occurred was being announced. Again, it was the past for the future, as the Lord speaks by the Psalmist, saying; They have dug My hands, and My feet, they have numbered all My bones. [Ps. 22, 16. 17.] For by these words in truth, the nature of the Lord's Passion is described as already past, but yet it is announced as still far future. In this place then in which it is said; When he shall he taken away, the angels shall fear, nothing prevents its being understood, that past events are described under the form of the future tense. Nor do we give up the sense of its true meaning, if we believe that when this Leviathan was falling from the height of blessedness, the Elect Angels also were greatly terrified at his fall, in order that, as the fall of pride was casting him out from their number, their very fear might give them strength to stand more firmly. Whence it also follows; And being affrighted shall be purified. 13. But they are purified; doubtless because, when he went forth with his reprobate hosts, they alone, who were to live in happiness for ever, remained in the abodes of heaven. His fall then alarmed and purified them; it alarmed them, in order that they might not proudly despise their Creator. But it purified them, because it was so ordered, that when the reprobate went forth, the Elect alone remained. And because God, the Maker of all things, knows how to apply even the evil doings of the reprobate to the protection of the good, He converted the lapse of those who fell to the benefit of those who remain; and the fault of the proud is punished, by the same means by which the increased merits of the humble Angels were discovered and confirmed. For on the fall of these, it was granted as a special gift to those that they should never in any wise fall. For while the holy Angels behold in them the ruin of their own nature, they stand with greater caution…
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
Leviathan · Nature and habits of — Nature and habits of
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).
22 Great strength resteth upon his neck,
And despair danceth hence before him.
23 The flanks of his flesh are thickly set,
Fitting tightly to him, immoveable.
24 His heart is firm like stone,
And firm like the nether millstone.
25 The mighty are afraid of his rising up;
From alarm they miss their aim.
Overpowering strength lodges on its neck, i.e., has its abiding place there, and before it despair, prop. melting away, dissolution (דּאבה from דּאב, Arab. ḏ'b = דּוּב Hiph., Arab. ḍ'b II, to bring into a loose condition, synon. חמס), dances hence, i.e., spring up and away (ידוּץ, Arab. jadisu, to run away), i.e., it spreads before it a despondency which produces terror, and deprives of stren…
Unlike the peaceful Behemoth (40:15-24), Leviathan was menacing (see also 3:8; Pss 74:14; 104:26; Isa 27:1). Most commentators identify Leviathan with the crocodile, with its terrible jaws (Job 41:14) and armored hide (41:15-17, 23), thrashing the water (41:31-32). But Leviathan is a fire-breathing dragon (41:18-21) that wraps its coils around the sun to cause an eclipse (3:8-9). The background for Leviathan is the seven-headed sea monster that represents chaos in ancient Near Eastern mythology. In the biblical record, this unruly maritime monster is a frequent biblical image for chaos and wickedness, whose head the Lord crushes (Ps 74:14; Isa 27:1; cp. Job 9:13; 26:12; Ps 89:9-10; Isa 30:7;…
On the dust there is none that rules over him The “mem” [is vowelized] with a “hataf kamatz,” and it means his rule, that no creature rules over him, and it is a noun denoting a ruler. Therefore, the “mem” is vowelized with a “hataf kamatz.”
which is made Heb. העשו, like העשוי [the passive participle]. However, I know of no similar case [in Scripture]. It means one that was made without fear or dismay, that is not afraid of the creatures, as it is stated concerning the horse (above 39:22): “He scorns fear and is not dismayed.”
