to increase (in whatever respect) · interrogative particle + verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
supplications
תַּחֲנוּנִ֑יםta.cha.nu.Nim
H8469
earnest prayer · noun, common masculine plural absolute
speak
יְדַבֵּ֖רye.da.Ber
H1696
perhaps properly · verb, piel imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
soft
רַכּֽוֹתra.Kot
H7390
tender (literally or figuratively) · adjective, feminine plural absolute
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 55:21 The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords.
Proverbs 15:1 A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.
Proverbs 18:23 The poor useth intreaties; but the rich answereth roughly.
Proverbs 25:15 By long forbearing is a prince persuaded, and a soft tongue breaketh the bone.
Isaiah 30:10 Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 41:1-10
Whether this leviathan be a whale or a crocodile is a great dispute among the learned, which I will not undertake to determine; some of the particulars agree more easily to the one, others to the other; both are very strong and fierce, and the power of the Creator appears in them. The ingenious Sir Richard Blackmore, though he admits the more received opinion concerning the behemoth, that it must be meant of the elephant, yet agrees with the learned Bochart's notion of the leviathan, that it is the crocodile, which was so well known in the river of Egypt. I confess that that which inclines me rather to understand it of the whale is not only because it is much larger and a nobler animal, but…
soft words--that thou mayest spare his life. No: he is untamable.
Adam Clarke on Job 41:3
Will he make many supplications - There are several allusions in these verses to matters of which we know nothing.
John Gill on Job 41:3
Will he make many supplications unto thee?.... To cease pursuing him, or to let him go when taken, or to use him well and not take away his life; no, he is too spirited and stouthearted to ask any favour, it is below him;
will he speak soft words unto thee? smooth and flattering ones, for the above purposes? he will not: this is a figurative way of speaking.
Keil & Delitzsch on Job 41:1-5
1 Dost thou draw the crocodile by a hoop-net,
And dost thou sink his tongue into the line?!
2 Canst thou put a rush-ring into his nose,
And pierce his cheeks with a hook?
3 Will he make many supplications to thee,
Or speak flatteries to thee?
4 Will he make a covenant with thee,
To take him as a perpetual slave?
5 Wilt thou play with him as a little bird,
And bind him for thy maidens?
In Job 3:8, לויתן signified the celestial dragon, that causes the eclipses of the sun (according to the Indian mythology, râhu the black serpent, and ketu the red serpent); in Psa 104:26 it does not denote some great sea-saurian after the kind of the hydrarchus of the primeval world,
(Note: Vid., Grsse, Beitr…
The Church Fathers
He said this because the demons asked the Lord not to cast them into the abyss, or because Satan said to Christ, "I will give you all these things." Will he now, he says, implore you with a soft speech? Will he make a covenant with you, and will he stop fighting his war against you?
Will he multiply prayers to thee, or will he speak soft words to thee? 27. Thou understandest, As to Me. For if these words are referred to the person of the Son, he spake soft words to Him Incarnate, when he said, I know Thee, Who Thou art, the Holy One of God. [Luke 4, 34] And this Leviathan multiplied prayers to Him, when he said by the legion which was subject to him; If Thou cast us out, send us into the herd of swine. [Matt. 8, 31] Although it can be understood in a still more plain manner, because he multiplies prayers to the Lord, when the wicked, who are his body, pray, on the day of the last judgment, that they may be spared; when his members, that is, the reprobate, cry out too late, and say, Lord, Lord, open unto us. To whom it is said immediately, I know you not, whence ye are. [Luke 13, 25] Then also he will say by his members soft words to the Lord, when many of his body are about to say, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in Thy Name, and in Thy Name have cast out devils, and in Thy Name have done many wonderful works? [Matt. 7, 22] They say soft words in deprecation, when they say in reply what they have done in His Name, but when they did these very deeds with hard heart, they claimed them for their own credit. Whence they shortly hear, I know you not, who ye are. ...
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).
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;…
Who came to meet Me Who is it who came to meet Me by accepting to worship Me and keep My commandments, and I will pay him his reward.
Everything under the heavens is Mine Everything that is under the heavens is Mine, and I have the power to pay him his reward, his recompense, and his remuneration.
