God's Response from the Whirlwind and the Wonders of Creation
Job 38:1-41:34
Job.38.1 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ויען: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- את: PRT,acc
- איוב: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- מן: PREP
- הסערה: NOUN,f,sg,def
- ויאמר: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Exodus 19:16-19 (thematic): God's theophany at Sinai: thunder, lightning, trumpet and the people hearing God's voice from the mountain—parallels Job 38's divine address out of a dramatic storm/theophany.
- Psalm 29:3-9 (verbal): Uses storm-language and repeatedly 'the voice of the LORD' over waters, thunder and flashes of fire—echoes the imagery of God speaking from a tempest in Job 38:1.
- Isaiah 40:12-14 (thematic): A series of rhetorical questions highlighting God's inscrutable power over creation; thematically parallels God's interrogative speech to Job that begins in 38:1.
- Job 40:6 (structural): A direct structural parallel within Job: another introduction formula 'And the LORD answered Job, and said,' marking the continuation/renewal of God's spoken challenge to Job.
- 1 Kings 19:11-13 (thematic): Another divine encounter involving wind, earthquake, and fire followed by God's speech—provides a contrasted theophanic pattern (mighty phenomena accompanying or preceding God's voice).
Alternative generated candidates
- Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind: "
- Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,
Job.38.2 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- מי: PRON,interr,sg
- זה: PRON,dem,m,sg
- מחשיך: VERB,piel,part,3,m,sg
- עצה: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- במלין: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- בלי: PREP
- דעת: NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Job 40:2 (verbal): A direct rhetorical challenge from God to the human who reproves/divines—continues the theme of rebuking those who dispute the Almighty's counsel.
- Isaiah 45:9 (thematic): Woe to one who argues with his Maker—echoes the impropriety of contesting or 'darkening' divine counsel.
- Romans 9:20 (allusion): Paul's rhetorical question 'Who are you, O man, to answer back to God?' reflects the same motif of humans presuming to judge God's purposes.
- Proverbs 18:13 (verbal): 'Answering before listening is folly'—parallels the accusation of speaking or forming counsel without knowledge.
Alternative generated candidates
- Who is this that darkens counsel with words without knowledge?
- Who is this that darkens counsel with words without knowledge?
Job.38.3 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אזר: VERB,qal,impv,2,m,sg
- נא: PART
- כגבר: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- חלציך: NOUN,m,pl,abs+POSS,2,m,sg
- ואשאלך: VERB,qal,impf,1,_,sg+OBJ,2,m,sg
- והודיעני: VERB,hiph,impf,2,m,sg+OBJ,1,_,sg
Parallels
- Job 40:7 (verbal): Nearly identical divine challenge later in the book: God again tells Job to 'gird up thy loins like a man; I will demand of thee, and answer thou me' — a direct verbal reprise of the summons to readiness and response.
- Jeremiah 1:17 (verbal): God's command to the prophet: 'Gird up thy loins; arise, and speak unto them all that I command thee' — same idiom urging firmness and readiness to carry out God's commission.
- 1 Peter 1:13 (allusion): The NT echoes the idiom with 'gird up the loins of your mind,' calling believers to prepare their minds for action — an allusive use of the Hebrew/Septuagint motif of readiness for God's call.
- Exodus 12:11 (verbal): Passover instructions: 'eat it with your loins girded, your shoes on your feet' — uses the same phraseology to convey readiness for immediate departure, illustrating the idiom's concrete sense of preparation.
Alternative generated candidates
- Gird up now your loins like a man; I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
- Gird up now your loins like a man; I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
Job.38.4 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- איפה: ADV
- היית: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- ביסדי: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,cs
- ארץ: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- הגד: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- אם: CONJ
- ידעת: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- בינה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Proverbs 8:22-31 (verbal): Wisdom personified speaks of being present 'when he established the heavens' and at the foundation of the earth—echoing God's question to Job about who understood or was present at the earth's founding.
- Genesis 1:1-2 (thematic): The opening creation narrative describing the formation of the earth provides the foundational backdrop to God's challenge in Job 38:4 about the origins and laying of the earth's foundations.
- Psalm 104:2-9 (thematic): A hymnic portrayal of God stretching out the heavens and setting boundaries for the sea; thematically parallels the divine account and interrogation concerning the ordering and foundations of the earth.
- Isaiah 40:12 (verbal): A rhetorical question—'Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand?'—that parallels the mode of divine questioning in Job 38:4, emphasizing God's unique role as Creator and Sustainer.
- Job 38:6 (structural): Immediate continuation of the same speech: asks on what the earth's foundations were fastened and who laid its cornerstone, directly extending the theme introduced in 38:4.
Alternative generated candidates
- Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell, if you have understanding.
- Where were you when I laid the foundation of the earth? Tell, if you have understanding.
Job.38.5 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- מי: PRON,interr,sg
- שם: ADV
- ממדיה: NOUN,f,sg,abs+3fs
- כי: CONJ
- תדע: VERB,qal,impf,2,ms,sg
- או: CONJ
- מי: PRON,interr,sg
- נטה: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- עליה: PREP,3,f,sg
- קו: INTJ
Parallels
- Proverbs 8:27 (verbal): Uses measuring/geometry language — 'when he set a compass upon the face of the deep' — paralleling Job's question about who laid the measurements and stretched a line over the earth.
- Isaiah 40:12 (thematic): Rhetorical questions about measuring/quantifying creation ('Who has measured the waters in the hollow of his hand?... who has meted out heaven with a span?') echo Job 38:5's measurement imagery.
- Psalm 104:2 (verbal): Speaks of God 'stretcheth out the heavens like a curtain,' echoing the imagery of stretching a line/measure over the earth.
- Zechariah 12:1 (thematic): Attributes to the LORD the acts of stretching out the heavens and laying the earth's foundation, thematically parallel to God's question about who measured and marked the earth.
- Isaiah 44:24 (verbal): God declares he 'stretched forth the heavens' and formed the earth, language closely related to Job's motif of laying measurements and stretching a line over creation.
Alternative generated candidates
- Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?
- Who determined its measurements—surely you know! Or who stretched the line upon it?
Job.38.6 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- על: PREP
- מה: PRON,int
- אדניה: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- הטבעו: VERB,hiphil,perf,3,m,pl
- או: CONJ
- מי: PRON,interr,sg
- ירה: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- אבן: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- פנתה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Psalm 104:5 (verbal): Speaks of God setting the earth on its foundations—language and theme closely parallel Job 38:6's question about the laying of the earth's foundations/cornerstone.
- Proverbs 3:19 (verbal): Attributes the founding of the earth to the LORD's wisdom; echoes Job's focus on the divine act of establishing the earth's foundations.
- Isaiah 48:13 (verbal): God speaks of laying the foundation of the earth with his hand—an explicit divine claim that parallels the rhetorical question in Job about who laid the cornerstone.
- Psalm 102:25 (allusion): Declares that God laid the earth's foundations and made the heavens—resonant imagery with Job's interrogation of the earth's foundation-laying.
- Hebrews 11:3 (thematic): New Testament reflection that the universe was framed by God's word/act—theological echo of Job's focus on God's creative establishment of the world.
Alternative generated candidates
- On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone,
- On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone,
Job.38.7 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ברן: ADV
- יחד: ADV
- כוכבי: NOUN,m,pl,const
- בקר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ויריעו: VERB,qal,wayyiqtol,3,m,pl
- כל: DET
- בני: NOUN,m,pl,construct
- אלהים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
Parallels
- Proverbs 8:22-31 (thematic): Wisdom personified speaks of being present with God at creation and rejoicing/playing before him — thematically parallels the image of heavenly beings rejoicing at the founding of the world.
- Job 1:6 (verbal): Uses the same phrase 'sons of God' (בני האלהים) in a heavenly assembly context, parallel in language and the concept of divine beings appearing before God.
- Psalm 148:2-3 (verbal): Calls the celestial bodies and heavenly hosts to praise the LORD (stars, angels), echoing the motif of stars/hosts giving voice in praise at God's works.
- Luke 2:13-14 (thematic): A multitude of the heavenly host praise God at a decisive divine act (the nativity), thematically similar to heavenly beings rejoicing at creation.
- Revelation 4:11 (allusion): Heavenly creatures and elders praise God as Creator ('You created all things'), reflecting the motif of celestial beings worshiping and exulting in God's creative acts.
Alternative generated candidates
- when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
- when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Job.38.8 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ויסך: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- בדלתים: PREP+NOUN,f,pl,abs
- ים: NOUN,m,sg,cs
- בגיחו: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs+SUF:3,m,sg
- מרחם: VERB,piel,ptc,3,m,sg
- יצא: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Genesis 1:9-10 (structural): Both passages locate God’s act of restraining/ordering the waters in the creation narrative; Job’s question echoes the Genesis account of gathering the seas and making dry land.
- Proverbs 8:29 (verbal): Proverbs speaks of giving the sea a decree so that the waters should not pass its command—language close to Job’s image of shutting the sea with doors.
- Psalm 104:6-9 (thematic): Psalm 104 describes the waters covering the earth and God setting boundaries so they will not return, paralleling Job’s motif of God containing the sea.
- Isaiah 51:9-10 (allusion): Isaiah recalls God’s ancient act of restraining/dividing the sea and stopping its waves—an echo of Job’s rhetorical appeal to God’s power over the sea.
Alternative generated candidates
- Who shut in the sea with doors when it burst forth from the womb,
- Who shut in the sea with doors when it burst forth from the womb,
Job.38.9 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- בשומי: PREP
- ענן: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- לבשו: VERB,qal,perf,3,pl
- וערפל: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- חתלתו: NOUN,f,sg,suf
Parallels
- Psalm 18:11 (verbal): Uses very similar language—God’s dwelling/cloak is described as darkness and thick clouds, paralleling Job’s image of the cloud as a garment and thick darkness as a swaddling‑band.
- Psalm 104:2–3 (verbal): Employs garment imagery for cosmic coverings (God ‘covers himself with light’ and ‘makes the clouds his chariot’), echoing Job’s motif of clouds/darkness as divine clothing.
- Isaiah 50:3 (verbal): Speaks of clothing the heavens with blackness and making sackcloth their covering—a close verbal/thematic parallel to dressing creation in darkness.
- Job 26:8 (thematic): Within Job’s corpus, this verse treats clouds as containers/agents in God’s ordering of the cosmos (‘binds up the waters in his thick clouds’), thematically related to making the cloud a garment in 38:9.
Alternative generated candidates
- when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling band,
- when I made clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling-band,
Job.38.10 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ואשבר: CONJ+VERB,qal,perf,1,com,sg
- עליו: PREP,3,m,sg
- חקי: NOUN,m,sg,abs+1s
- ואשים: VERB,qal,impf,1,?,sg
- בריח: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ודלתים: CONJ+NOUN,f,pl,abs
Parallels
- Proverbs 8:29 (verbal): Uses nearly identical language about God giving a decree to the sea so that the waters should not pass his command — a close verbal echo of setting bounds for the waters.
- Psalm 104:6-9 (verbal): Describes God covering the earth with waters and then setting limits so the waters will not return to cover the land (v.9), echoing the imagery of bars and doors on the sea.
- Job 26:10 (thematic): Speaks of God inscribing a circle on the face of the waters and setting boundaries between light and darkness — a related image of divine delimitation of the waters.
- Genesis 1:9-10 (structural): The creation account where God gathers the waters and names the dry land, providing the broader creation framework for talking about God restraining the sea.
Alternative generated candidates
- and I set limits for it and put bars and doors,
- when I fixed my limit for it and set bars and doors,
Job.38.11 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ואמר: VERB,qal,wayyiqtol,3,m,sg
- עד: PREP
- פה: ADV
- תבוא: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- ולא: CONJ
- תסיף: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- ופא: CONJ+ADV
- ישית: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- בגאון: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- גליך: NOUN,m,pl,abs+2,m,sg
Parallels
- Psalm 104:9 (verbal): Uses nearly the same imagery and wording: God ‘set a boundary’ for the waters so they ‘shall not pass over’—directly echoes Job’s command to the sea to come no further.
- Job 26:10 (verbal): Within the same book, God’s ordering of the waters is described as marking a boundary—‘He has inscribed a circle on the face of the waters’—a close thematic and verbal parallel.
- Psalm 89:9 (thematic): Speaks of God’s rule over the surging sea—‘You rule the surging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them’—echoing the theme of divine control and restraint of the waters.
- Nahum 1:4 (thematic): Portrays God rebuking and controlling the sea (‘He rebukes the sea and makes it dry’), reinforcing the motif of God exercising authority over chaotic waters.
- Mark 4:39 (thematic): Jesus’ command ‘Peace! Be still!’ to wind and sea shows the same idea of divine authority to command and restrain the waters, a New Testament echo of the theme in Job 38:11.
Alternative generated candidates
- and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed’?
- and said, 'Thus far shall you come, and no farther, and here shall your proud waves be stayed'?
Job.38.12 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- המימיך: NOUN,m,pl,abs,2,m,sg
- צוית: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- בקר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ידעתה: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg,3,f,sg
- השחר: NOUN,m,sg,def
- מקמו: NOUN,m,sg,abs,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Genesis 1:5 (thematic): God establishes day and night and names the light 'Day'—creation-ordering of mornings and days echoes Job's question about commanding the morning.
- Job 9:7 (verbal): Job earlier asks rhetorically whether anyone can command the sun not to rise; closely parallels the motif of divine control over sunrise/morning.
- Psalm 104:19-20 (thematic): Speaks of God appointing the moon for seasons and ruling night and day, underscoring God’s sovereignty over the timing of morning.
- Jeremiah 31:35 (allusion): Declares that the LORD gives the sun by day and ordains the heavenly ordinances—an assertion of God’s governance of celestial cycles related to morning.
- Proverbs 8:27-29 (structural): Wisdom’s depiction of God setting the heavens and establishing boundaries at creation parallels the theme of God assigning places and times (including morning) in the world order.
Alternative generated candidates
- Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place,
- Have you commanded the morning since your days began, and caused the dawn to know its place,
Job.38.13 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- לאחז: VERB,qal,inf
- בכנפות: PREP+NOUN,f,pl,abs
- הארץ: NOUN,f,sg,def
- וינערו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- רש: VERB,qal,inf
- ממנה: PREP+PRON,3,f,sg
Parallels
- Job 9:5-10 (verbal): Job earlier describes God removing mountains and shaking the earth out of its place—language and emphasis on divine control over the earth closely echo Job 38:13.
- Job 26:7 (verbal): Job 26 (esp. v.7) speaks of God stretching out the heavens and hanging the earth, reflecting the same motif of God determining the earth's bounds and order found in 38:13.
- Isaiah 13:13 (thematic): Isaiah depicts God 'shaking the heavens and removing the earth out of its place' as an act of judgment; parallel imagery of cosmic shaking and divine reordering against the wicked.
- Psalm 18:7-8 (thematic): A theophany-scene where the earth trembles and the foundations shake at God's wrath—similar motif of the earth responding to divine action and judgment in Job 38:13.
- Nahum 1:5-6 (thematic): Nahum portrays mountains quaking and hills melting before God's presence—another instance of cosmic trembling used to signify divine judgment on the wicked, paralleling Job's image.
Alternative generated candidates
- that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?
- that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?
Job.38.14 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- תתהפך: VERB,hitpael,impf,3,f,sg
- כחמר: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- חותם: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ויתיצבו: VERB,hitpael,wayyiqtol,3,m,pl
- כמו: PREP
- לבוש: ADJ,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Psalm 104:2 (verbal): Uses clothing imagery for cosmic phenomena—God ‘covers himself with light as with a garment,’ echoing Job’s image of things standing forth ‘like a garment.’
- Psalm 102:25-26 (thematic): Describes created things changing and wearing out ‘as a garment,’ paralleling Job’s simile of the world (or heavens) becoming like a garment/being changed.
- Isaiah 40:22 (verbal): Portrays the heavens spread out like a canopy or curtain—similar trope of the sky/creation as drapery or clothing in Job 38:14.
- Jeremiah 18:6 (allusion): Employs the clay/potter metaphor—Job’s phrase ‘turned like clay’ resonates with Jeremiah’s image of clay shaped by the potter.
- Isaiah 64:8 (thematic): Calls God the potter and humans (or creation) clay; thematically parallels Job’s use of clay imagery to describe formation and transformation.
Alternative generated candidates
- It is changed like clay under the seal; and they stand forth like a garment.
- It is changed like clay under a seal and stands forth like a garment.
Job.38.15 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- וימנע: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- מרש: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- אורם: NOUN,m,sg,abs+3,m,pl
- וזרוע: CONJ+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- רמה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- תשבר: VERB,qal,impf,3,f,sg
Parallels
- Proverbs 16:18 (verbal): Declares the principle that pride precedes destruction—parallel to the image of the proud's strength being broken in Job 38:15.
- Psalm 75:6-7 (structural): Speaks of God as judge who ‘puts down one, and exalts another,’ echoing Job’s theme that God humbles the proud and removes their power.
- 1 Samuel 2:8 (thematic): Hannah’s song portrays God lifting the lowly and casting down the proud—a thematic counterpart to the breaking of the proud arm in Job 38:15.
- Isaiah 2:11-12 (thematic): Foretells the humbling of lofty eyes and lofty men—similar language of God bringing down the arrogant found in Job 38:15.
- James 4:6 (allusion): ‘God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble’ echoes the theological point of divine opposition to pride implied by Job’s image of the proud being stripped and broken.
Alternative generated candidates
- From the wicked their light is withheld, and the uplifted arm is broken.
- From the wicked their light is withheld, and the uplifted arm is broken.
Job.38.16 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- הבאת: VERB,hifil,perf,2,m,sg
- עד: PREP
- נבכי: NOUN,m,pl,cons
- ים: NOUN,m,sg,cs
- ובחקר: CONJ+PREP
- תהום: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- התהלכת: VERB,hitpael,perf,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Proverbs 8:24-27 (thematic): Wisdom speaks of being present at creation and of the springs/fountains and the laying out of the depths—parallels Job’s focus on the hidden springs and recesses of the sea.
- Psalm 104:6-9 (thematic): Describes the waters covering the earth and God setting bounds for the sea—echoes the cosmic/primordial sea imagery and divine control implicit in Job’s question about the deep.
- Jonah 2:3-6 (verbal): Jonah’s description of being cast into the deep, surrounded by floods and going down to the roots of the mountains uses language and motifs (deep, sea’s depths) closely parallel to Job’s wording.
- Psalm 42:7 (verbal): ‘Deep calls to deep’ at the sound of waterfalls — uses the motif of the ‘deep’ as a powerful, abyssal realm, resonating with Job’s mention of the recesses of the deep.
Alternative generated candidates
- Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?
- Have you gone down to the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?
Job.38.17 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- הנגלו: VERB,niphal,perf,3,m,pl
- לך: PRON,2,m,sg
- שערי: NOUN,m,pl,cstr
- מות: VERB,qal,infabs
- ושערי: CONJ+NOUN,m,pl,cstr
- צלמות: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- תראה: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 26:6 (structural): Same book; contrasts human ignorance about Sheol’s thresholds with the declaration that Sheol/Abaddon are exposed before God (emphasizing divine knowledge of the realm of death).
- Psalm 9:13 (verbal): Uses the phrase 'gates of death' (Hebrew sheol imagery) in a petition for deliverance—direct verbal parallel to Job’s mention of the 'gates' of death.
- Isaiah 38:10 (verbal): The mourner speaks of going to the 'gates of Sheol'—a closely related phrase and image of entering the realm of death found in Job 38:17.
- Matthew 16:18 (allusion): Jesus speaks of 'the gates of Hades' in relation to the church; the NT term Hades corresponds to Hebrew sheol, echoing the OT motif of 'gates of death' as a locus of power or transition.
- Revelation 1:18 (thematic): Jesus declares he holds the 'keys of Death and Hades,' thematically linked to control/knowledge of the gates or thresholds of the realm of death invoked in Job 38:17.
Alternative generated candidates
- Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
- Have the gates of death been revealed to you, or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
Job.38.18 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- התבננת: VERB,hitpael,perf,2,m,sg
- עד: PREP
- רחבי: ADJ,m,pl,const
- ארץ: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- הגד: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- אם: CONJ
- ידעת: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- כלה: ADV
Parallels
- Job 11:7-9 (thematic): Another challenge to human ability to fathom God's realities—asks who can find out the limits/depths of the Almighty, echoing the rhetorical question about knowing the earth's breadth.
- Isaiah 40:12 (verbal): Speaks of measuring the waters and marking off the heavens—parallels the motif of divine measurement and the impossibility for humans to comprehend the universe's extent.
- Proverbs 8:27-29 (allusion): Wisdom describes being present when God 'drew a circle' on the face of the deep and set the earth's foundations—closely related to the imagery of establishing the earth's expanse and limits.
- Job 26:10 (verbal): Describes God inscribing a circle on the face of the waters to set boundaries between light and darkness—echoes the cosmic/boundary language of God's questions about the earth's breadth.
Alternative generated candidates
- Have you comprehended the expanse of the earth? Declare, if you know all this.
- Have you comprehended the breadths of the earth? Tell, if you know it all.
Job.38.19 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אי: PRON,interrog
- זה: PRON,dem,m,sg
- הדרך: NOUN,f,sg,def
- ישכן: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- אור: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- וחשך: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אי: PRON,interrog
- זה: PRON,dem,m,sg
- מקמו: NOUN,m,sg,abs,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Genesis 1:4-5 (structural): Creation account where God separates light from darkness and establishes day and night—parallel theme of divine ordering of light and darkness.
- Isaiah 45:7 (thematic): God declares he forms light and creates darkness, emphasizing divine sovereignty over light/darkness—theological echo of Job’s question about their place.
- Psalm 104:20-23 (allusion): Describes God appointing darkness and night and the alternation of labor and rest with the coming of light—reflects the cosmic rhythms referenced in Job 38:19.
- Job 38:12 (verbal): Immediate context in God's speeches: questions about commanding the morning and causing light to appear, directly linked to asking where light and darkness dwell.
Alternative generated candidates
- Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness,
- Where is the way to the dwelling of light, and where is the place of darkness,
Job.38.20 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- כי: CONJ
- תקחנו: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,pl
- אל: NEG
- גבולו: NOUN,m,sg,abs+3,m,sg
- וכי: CONJ
- תבין: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- נתיבות: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- ביתו: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Job 38:8-11 (structural): Immediate context where God speaks of shutting up the sea and setting its limits—directly develops the same theme of the sea's borders and ways.
- Proverbs 8:27-29 (thematic): Wisdom describes God as marking out the horizon and appointing the limits of the seas—echoes the motif of God establishing the sea's borders.
- Psalm 104:6-9 (verbal): Portrays God covering the earth with waters and setting a boundary for the seas so they shall not pass—parallels the language of borders and containment.
- Psalm 8:8 (verbal): Refers to 'the paths of the sea' and the creatures that move there—resonates with Job's reference to the sea's 'ways' or 'paths'.
Alternative generated candidates
- that you should take them to their bounds, and that you should know the paths to their houses?
- that you should bring them to their bounds and that you should know the paths to their houses?
Job.38.21 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ידעת: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- כי: CONJ
- אז: ADV
- תולד: VERB,qal,perf,2,ms,sg
- ומספר: CONJ+VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- ימיך: NOUN,m,pl,abs+2ms
- רבים: ADJ,m,pl,abs
Parallels
- Psalm 90:12 (verbal): Uses the explicit verbal motif 'number/teach us to number our days'—both passages link knowledge of life's length with wisdom and human limitation.
- Psalm 39:4-5 (verbal): The psalmist asks God to show him 'the number of my days' and reflects on the brevity of life, echoing Job 38:21's concern with counting days and human finitude.
- Job 14:5 (thematic): Affirms that a person's days are limited and determined by God—parallel theme of divine knowledge/control over life span that Job 38:21 presupposes.
- Psalm 139:16 (thematic): Speaks of all a person's days being written/ordained by God, resonating with the idea in Job 38:21 that the count of days/births belongs to God's knowledge.
- Job 38:4 (structural): Part of the same divine interrogative speech; both verses use rhetorical questions about creation and human ignorance to underscore God's sovereign knowledge versus human limitation.
Alternative generated candidates
- Surely you know—for you were then born, and the number of your days is great.
- Do you know because you were then born? Or because the number of your days is great?
Job.38.22 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- הבאת: VERB,hifil,perf,2,m,sg
- אל: NEG
- אצרות: NOUN,m,pl,construct
- שלג: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ואצרות: CONJ+NOUN,f,pl,abs
- ברד: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- תראה: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Psalm 135:7 (verbal): Uses the same 'treasuries/storehouses' image for atmospheric forces—God brings wind out of his storehouses, echoing Job's 'treasuries of snow/hail.'
- Psalm 147:16-18 (thematic): Describes God giving snow and hurling down hail, attributing control of snow/hail to God's deliberate action, closely matching Job's theme of divine control over winter weather.
- Psalm 104:13-14 (structural): Speaks of God sending waters from his chambers and providing for the earth—comparable imagery of divine 'chambers' or repositories from which meteorological provision issues.
- Isaiah 55:10 (thematic): Portrays snow and rain as sent from heaven with purposeful effect, reinforcing the biblical motif that precipitation (including snow) is an outcome of God's sovereign ordering of the world.
Alternative generated candidates
- Have you entered the storehouses of the snow, or have you seen the storehouses of the hail,
- Have you entered the treasuries of snow, or have you seen the treasuries of hail,
Job.38.23 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אשר: PRON,rel
- חשכתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,_,sg
- לעת: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- צר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ליום: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- קרב: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- ומלחמה: CONJ+NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Genesis 41:34-36 (thematic): Joseph's plan to store grain in Egypt 'against the famine' parallels the idea of reserving provisions for a future time of trouble.
- Proverbs 6:6-8 (thematic): The ant's practice of gathering and storing food for the future exemplifies the wisdom of reserving supplies for times of need, echoing 'reserved for the time of trouble.'
- Proverbs 21:20 (thematic): 'There is treasure to be desired... but a foolish man spendeth it up'—the contrast between storing up resources and squandering them parallels the notion of keeping reserves for hard days.
- Isaiah 26:20-21 (thematic): The call to enter one's chambers and hide 'for the day of the Lord's vengeance' resonates with the imagery of an appointed 'time of trouble' or day of calamity when protection or reserves are needed.
Alternative generated candidates
- which I reserve for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?
- which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of war and battle?
Job.38.24 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אי: PRON,interrog
- זה: PRON,dem,m,sg
- הדרך: NOUN,f,sg,def
- יחלק: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- אור: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יפץ: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- קדים: ADJ,m,pl,abs
- עלי: PREP+PRON,1,sg
- ארץ: NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Psalm 104:3-4 (thematic): Like Job 38:24, these verses depict God directing the winds and using them as his agents—emphasizing divine control over atmospheric forces.
- Psalm 147:16-18 (thematic): Speaks of God sending snow, ice and his command over weather; parallels Job 38's theme of God ordering light, frost/air and meteorological phenomena.
- Amos 4:13 (verbal): Explicitly attributes creation of the wind to God ('who formeth the wind'), a close verbal/thematic parallel to Job's question about who parts light and scatters the east wind upon the earth.
- Job 37:9-13 (structural): Within the same speech-cycle (Elihu/Job cycle), these verses describe God's control of wind and storms—an internal parallel that develops the same motif found in 38:24.
Alternative generated candidates
- By what way is light apportioned, and the east wind scattered upon the earth?
- By what way is light apportioned, or the east wind distributed over the earth?
Job.38.25 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- מי: PRON,interr,sg
- פלג: VERB,qal,imp,2,m,sg
- לשטף: PREP+VERB,qal,inf
- תעלה: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- ודרך: CONJ+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- לחזיז: VERB,qal,inf
- קלות: NOUN,f,pl,abs
Parallels
- Psalm 104:10-13 (thematic): Describes God sending forth springs and directing waters into valleys to give drink—theme of God ordering channels and the course of waters, parallel to assigning a channel for torrents.
- Psalm 135:7 (verbal): Speaks of God making lightnings for the rain (LXX/MT imagery), echoing Job's reference to a 'way for the thunderbolt' (חזיז קלות).
- Isaiah 55:10 (thematic): Portrays rain and snow coming down from heaven to accomplish God's purposes on earth, reflecting the idea of divinely ordered paths and functions for precipitation.
- Amos 9:6 (allusion): Attributes to the Lord the calling and pouring out of the waters of the sea and their governance over the earth—parallel concern with God's control over waters and their channels.
Alternative generated candidates
- Who divided a channel for the torrents and a way for the flashing bolts of the storm,
- Who has cleft a channel for the torrents, or a way for the thunderbolt,
Job.38.26 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- להמטיר: VERB,hiphil,inf
- על: PREP
- ארץ: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- לא: PART_NEG
- איש: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- מדבר: VERB,qal,ptc,3,m,sg
- לא: PART_NEG
- אדם: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- בו: PREP+PRON,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 38:25 (structural): Immediate context in the same divine speech; verse 25 poses the question about arranging watercourses and verse 26 continues ‘to cause it to rain…’ — the two verses form a single line of argument about God’s control of rain.
- Psalm 147:8 (verbal): Speaks of God preparing rain for the earth and covering the heavens with clouds, echoing the motif of God authoritatively providing rain to the land.
- Isaiah 55:10 (thematic): Uses the imagery of rain and snow coming from heaven to accomplish God’s purposes on the earth, paralleling Job’s concern with God’s sovereign sending of rain to the land.
- Matthew 5:45 (thematic): Jesus observes that God ‘sends rain on the just and the unjust,’ resonating with the idea that God directs rain independently of human presence or merit.
- Deuteronomy 11:14 (thematic): God’s promise to send seasonal rain so the land yields crops underscores the same theological theme of divine control over rain and its effects on the earth.
Alternative generated candidates
- to water a land where no one lives, a wilderness in which there is no man,
- to make rain on a land where there is no man, on the desert in which there is no one to dwell,
Job.38.27 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- להשביע: VERB,hif,inf
- שאה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ומשאה: CONJ+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ולהצמיח: CONJ+VERB,hiph,inf
- מצא: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- דשא: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Isaiah 55:10 (thematic): Uses the image of rain causing the seed to sprout—God’s sending of moisture producing plant growth parallels Job’s question about making vegetation bud.
- Psalm 147:8 (verbal): Speaks of God preparing rain and 'making grass to grow on the mountains,' language closely echoing Job’s depiction of divine provision that brings forth vegetation.
- Psalm 65:9-10 (thematic): Describes God watering the earth, enriching it, and causing grain to spring up—parallel theme of divine control over rain and fertility of the land.
- Amos 4:7-8 (structural): Portrays Yahweh as withholding and sending rain (and thus vegetation), highlighting divine sovereignty over precipitation and plant growth similar to the rhetorical focus in Job 38.
- Genesis 8:22 (thematic): God’s promise that seedtime and harvest shall not cease links to the dependence of plant life on divinely ordered cycles of moisture and growth, resonant with Job’s question about making buds spring forth.
Alternative generated candidates
- to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the tender grass spring forth?
- to satisfy the desolate waste and to make the tender grass to spring forth?
Job.38.28 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- היש: PART,exist
- למטר: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אב: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- או: CONJ
- מי: PRON,interr,sg
- הוליד: VERB,hiphil,perf,3,m,sg
- אגלי: NOUN,m,pl,cons
- טל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Job 36:27-28 (verbal): Elihu describes how God forms small drops and pours down rain from vapour—language and theme closely echoing God’s question about the origin of drops/dew in Job 38:28.
- Genesis 2:5-6 (thematic): The primeval account where no rain had yet fallen and a mist/wind watered the ground relates to the question of how precipitation (rain/dew) originates.
- Psalm 147:8 (thematic): Attributes the preparation of rain to God (‘he covers the heavens with clouds, prepares rain for the earth’), paralleling Job’s focus on divine sovereignty over dew and rain.
- Isaiah 55:10 (allusion): Compares God’s word to rain and snow that come from heaven to water the earth—uses the imagery of divinely-ordained precipitation, resonant with Job’s question about who 'begets' the drops.
Alternative generated candidates
- Does the rain have a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew?
- Does the rain have a father? Or who has begotten the drops of dew?
Job.38.29 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- מבטן: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- מי: PRON,interr,sg
- יצא: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- הקרח: NOUN,m,sg,def
- וכפר: CONJ+VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- שמים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- מי: PRON,interr,sg
- ילדו: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
Parallels
- Job 38:22 (verbal): Immediate parallel in the same divine speech: asks about the storehouses of snow and hail, closely connected to the question about the origin of ice and hoarfrost.
- Job 37:10 (thematic): Elihu describes God’s control over cold weather—'by the breath of God frost is given'—echoing the theme of frost/ice as divine phenomena.
- Psalm 147:16–18 (verbal): Describes God giving snow like wool and scattering hoarfrost, and sending his ice; a poetic depiction of snow/ice as originating from God, paralleling Job’s question about their source.
- Isaiah 55:10 (thematic): Speaks of snow and rain coming down from heaven to accomplish God’s purposes—thematically links snow/precipitation as heavenly in origin and under divine ordering.
Alternative generated candidates
- From whose womb comes the ice? And the frost of heaven, who gives it birth?
- From whose womb comes the ice, and who gives birth to the frost of heaven?
Job.38.30 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- כאבן: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- מים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- יתחבאו: VERB,hitpael,impf,3,m,pl
- ופני: CONJ+NOUN,m,pl,cons
- תהום: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- יתלכדו: VERB,hitpael,impf,3,m,pl
Parallels
- Job 38:8-11 (structural): Immediate context: God describes restraining the sea with doors and setting limits on its surge—parallel imagery of the deep being held fast or ‘frozen’ under divine control.
- Psalm 104:6-9 (thematic): Speaks of the deep covered like a garment and the waters commanded to a place, echoing the idea of the chaotic waters being restrained and made firm by God.
- Psalm 33:7 (verbal): Declares that God 'gathers the waters of the sea together as a heap' (or stores up the depths), similar language of assembling or holding back the waters.
- Proverbs 8:29 (verbal): Wisdom-language about God setting boundaries for the sea so the waters do not transgress—parallels the theme of delimiting and controlling the deep.
- Isaiah 51:10 (thematic): Describes God drying up the sea and making the deep a road—another image of God subduing or immobilizing the primeval waters.
Alternative generated candidates
- The waters become hard like stone, and the surface of the deep is frozen.
- The waters become hard like stone, and the surface of the deep is frozen.
Job.38.31 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- התקשר: VERB,hitpael,perf,3,m,sg
- מעדנות: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- כימה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- או: CONJ
- משכות: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- כסיל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- תפתח: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 9:9 (verbal): Names the same celestial figures (Arcturus/Orion and the Pleiades) as creations of God—close verbal and thematic echo within Job.
- Amos 5:8 (verbal): Explicitly pairs the Pleiades and Orion as divine workmanship—verbal parallel invoking the same constellations.
- Isaiah 40:26 (thematic): Rhetorical appeal to look at the heavens and recognize God's sovereignty in creating and arranging the stars—similar argument from God’s control of constellations.
- Psalm 147:4 (thematic): Affirms God’s authority over the stars ('He counts the stars; he calls them all by name'), echoing the motif of divine mastery of the heavens.
Alternative generated candidates
- Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades or loosen the cords of Orion?
- Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, or loose the cords of Orion?
Job.38.32 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- התציא: VERB,hiphil,impf,2,m,sg
- מזרות: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- בעתו: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs+3ms
- ועיש: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- על: PREP
- בניה: NOUN,m,pl,abs,poss3,m
- תנחם: VERB,hiphil,imperf,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 9:9 (verbal): Uses the same cosmic catalogue (Arcturus/Orion/Pleiades/chambers of the south) and vocabulary about God’s ordering of the stars, closely matching Job 38’s questions about controlling constellations.
- Amos 5:8 (verbal): Speaks of ‘the one who made the seven stars and Orion,’ echoing Job 38’s reference to bringing forth the constellations and guiding Arcturus (the Bear) with its offspring.
- Genesis 1:14 (structural): In the creation account the heavenly lights are appointed ‘for signs and for seasons’ (moedim), paralleling Job’s concern with constellations ‘in their season’ and their role in marking times.
- Isaiah 40:26 (thematic): Calls attention to God who brings out the host of heaven and numbers them—a parallel theological theme of divine sovereignty and ordering of the stars found in Job 38.
Alternative generated candidates
- Can you bring forth the constellations in their season, or lead out the Bear with its cubs?
- Can you bring forth the constellations in their season, or lead the Bear with her cubs?
Job.38.33 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- הידעת: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- חקות: NOUN,f,pl,cst
- שמים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- אם: CONJ
- תשים: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- משטרו: NOUN,m,sg,abs,3,m,sg
- בארץ: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,def
Parallels
- Job 38:31 (structural): Immediate context: the same series of divine rhetorical questions about control of the heavens (Pleiades, Orion, the morning) that frame the 'ordinances of the heavens'.
- Genesis 1:14-18 (thematic): Creation account assigns the heavenly bodies to be for 'signs and seasons' and to govern day and night—parallels the idea of heavenly ordinances and their rule over earth.
- Deuteronomy 4:19 (verbal): Warns about worshipping sun and moon, describing them as lights 'to rule over the day and over the night' and 'for signs and for seasons,' echoing language of heavenly ordinances and rulership.
- Psalm 104:19 (verbal): States God 'made the moon for the seasons,' directly resonating with the notion of celestial ordinances that regulate time and order on earth.
- Jeremiah 31:35 (allusion): Presents God as the one who sets the ordinances of the sun, moon and stars and establishes the order of heaven and earth—an explicit theological parallel to Job's reference to heavenly statutes.
Alternative generated candidates
- Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth?
- Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule over the earth?
Job.38.34 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- התרים: NOUN,m,pl,def
- לעב: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- קולך: NOUN,m,sg,suf
- ושפעת: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- מים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- תכסך: VERB,qal,impf,3,f,sg
Parallels
- Job 36:27-28 (verbal): Elihu describes God drawing up droplets and distilling rain from his mist—language closely paralleling God's question about raising clouds to produce abundant waters.
- Psalm 135:7 (verbal): Speaks of God causing clouds to rise and providing lightning for rain—similar imagery of divine control over clouds and precipitation.
- Psalm 147:8 (verbal): Declares that God 'covers the heavens with clouds' and 'prepares rain for the earth,' echoing the idea of God commanding clouds and watering the world.
- Isaiah 55:10 (thematic): Compares the rain and snow sent from heaven to God's purposeful action to accomplish his will—thematically related to God's sovereign issuance of waters from the clouds.
Alternative generated candidates
- Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, so that abundance of waters may cover them?
- Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover them?
Job.38.35 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- התשלח: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- ברקים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- וילכו: VERB,qal,wayyiqtol,3,m,pl
- ויאמרו: VERB,qal,wayyiqtol,3,pl
- לך: PRON,2,m,sg
- הננו: PRON,1,c,pl
Parallels
- Job 38:25-30 (structural): Immediate context in God's speech about control over weather and the ordering of storms (snow, hail, morning, and the sea), reinforcing the same theme of divine governance of natural forces.
- Job 38:22-24 (verbal): Closely connected verses that speak of the storehouses of snow and hail and God’s authority to release them—parallel imagery of dispatching storm elements.
- Exodus 9:23-24 (thematic): Narrative account of the LORD sending thunder, hail, and lightning against Egypt—an example of God actively sending and controlling lightning in judgment.
- Psalm 18:12-15 (verbal): Poetic description of God's thunder and lightning that scatter enemies; uses similar language of God sending lightning as an expression of divine power.
- 1 Kings 18:38 (thematic): Elijah’s prayer is answered when fire comes down from heaven to consume the sacrifice—another tradition of God (or God’s agency) sending heavenly fire/light from above.
Alternative generated candidates
- Do you send forth lightnings, that they may go and say to you, ‘Here we are’?
- Can you send forth lightnings, that they may go and say to you, 'Here we are'?
Job.38.36 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- מי: PRON,interr,sg
- שת: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- בטחות: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- חכמה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- או: CONJ
- מי: PRON,interr,sg
- נתן: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- לשכוי: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- בינה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Job 28:12-28 (thematic): Extended reflection within Job asking where wisdom is found and concluding that true wisdom comes from the fear of the Lord—directly parallels Job 38:36's question about who grants wisdom and understanding.
- Proverbs 2:6 (verbal): States explicitly that 'the LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding,' echoing Job's claim that wisdom/understanding are given by God.
- Exodus 31:3 (verbal): Describes God filling Bezalel with the Spirit and granting skill, intelligence and knowledge—an example of God bestowing wisdom/understanding on a person.
- Daniel 2:21 (thematic): Affirms God's sovereign role in changing times and 'giving wisdom to the wise and knowledge to those who have understanding,' paralleling the question of who endows understanding.
- 1 Corinthians 1:30 (allusion): Paul declares that Christ has been made by God 'wisdom' for believers, reflecting the New Testament appropriation of the theme that true wisdom originates with God.
Alternative generated candidates
- Who has put wisdom in the mind? Or who has given understanding to the inward parts?
- Who has put wisdom in the inward parts, or given understanding to the mind?
Job.38.37 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- מי: PRON,interr,sg
- יספר: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- שחקים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- בחכמה: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ונבלי: CONJ+NOUN,m,pl,cons
- שמים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- מי: PRON,interr,sg
- ישכיב: VERB,hiph,imperf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 26:8 (verbal): Same book imagery of God restraining waters in clouds—echoes the picture of heavenly 'bottles' or waterskins and divine control over clouds.
- Isaiah 40:12 (thematic): Rhetorical questions about measuring the heavens and waters highlight the same theme of human inability versus divine sovereignty over the cosmos.
- Genesis 1:6-7 (structural): Creation account of God separating and containing the waters above by the firmament parallels the motif of God managing heavenly waters and clouds.
- Psalm 147:8 (verbal): Speaks of God covering the heavens with clouds and supplying rain—directly parallels the image of God controlling clouds and dispensing waters from above.
- Psalm 135:7 (thematic): Portrays God as ruler over clouds and wind ('makes clouds his chariot'), reinforcing the motif of divine mastery over the skies and waters.
Alternative generated candidates
- Who can number the clouds by wisdom, or tip the bottles of heaven,
- Who can number the clouds by wisdom, or tilt the water-jars of heaven,
Job.38.38 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- בצקת: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- עפר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- למוצק: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ורגבים: CONJ+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ידבקו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
Parallels
- Genesis 2:7 (verbal): Both speak of God shaping from the earth/dust—Genesis describes God forming man from the dust of the ground, paralleling the image of pouring and forming earth into clods.
- Jeremiah 18:6 (allusion): Uses the potter-and-clay motif—God as shaper of clay echoes the motif of God forming and moulding earth/substance as in Job’s image of poured dust and adhering clods.
- Isaiah 45:9 (thematic): Challenges directed at the created about questioning the Creator’s forming work—Isaiah’s potter-clay language thematically parallels Job’s depiction of divine formation of the earth’s substance.
- Proverbs 8:27-29 (thematic): Wisdom’s speech about God setting the foundations and arranging the elements of creation resonates with Job’s scene of God shaping the earth (pouring out dust, making clods) as part of ordering the created world.
Alternative generated candidates
- when the dust hardens into a mass and the clods cling together?
- when the dust hardens into a mass and the clods stick together?
Job.38.39 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- התצוד: VERB,qal,imperf,2,m,sg
- ללביא: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- טרף: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- וחית: CONJ+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- כפירים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- תמלא: VERB,qal,imprf,3,f,sg
Parallels
- Psalm 104:21 (verbal): Speaks of young lions roaring for prey and seeking food from God—closely parallels Job’s question about providing prey/satisfying the young lions’ appetite (similar wording and idea of God’s provision).
- Job 38:41 (structural): Immediate parallel within the same discourse: the next verse continues the theme of God providing food for creatures (ravens), showing the chapter’s larger pattern of questioning Job about control over animal provision.
- Proverbs 30:29-31 (thematic): Lists and celebrates animals’ instincts and strengths (including the lion), thematically related to Job 38’s focus on wild beasts’ nature and human inability to govern them.
- Psalm 147:9 (thematic): Declares that God gives food to beasts and to young ravens—echoing Job 38’s concern with who provides for predatory animals and their young.
Alternative generated candidates
- Will you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
- Can you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
Job.38.40 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- כי: CONJ
- ישחו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- במעונות: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ישבו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- בסכה: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- למו: PREP+PRON,3,m,pl
- ארב: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Job 38:39 (structural): Immediately adjacent verse in the same divine speech; continues the theme of God’s control over the hunt and the feeding of wild predators (same passage/unit).
- Job 38:41 (structural): Part of the same series of divine questions about provision for animals—this verse explicitly mentions God supplying food for the ravens, echoing the motif of God’s care for wild creatures.
- Psalm 104:21 (thematic): Speaks of young lions roaring for prey and seeking food from God; parallels Job’s depiction of predators lying in wait and God’s sovereign provision for creatures of the wild.
- Psalm 10:9 (thematic): Uses the image of lying in ambush like a lion in his covert; parallels the language and imagery of beasts crouching in dens and ambushing prey found in Job 38:40.
Alternative generated candidates
- when they lie in their dens, and couch in the thickets to lie in wait?
- when they crouch in their dens and lie in wait in their lairs?
Job.38.41 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- מי: PRON,interr,sg
- יכין: PNOUN,m,sg
- לערב: PREP
- צידו: NOUN,m,sg,abs+3ms
- כי: CONJ
- ילדיו: NOUN,m,pl,poss3,m,sg
- אל: NEG
- אל: NEG
- ישועו: NOUN,m,sg,abs+3ms
- יתעו: VERB,qal,imperf,3,m,pl
- לבלי: PREP
- אכל: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Psalm 147:9 (verbal): Uses the same image of God providing food for the young ravens — explicit verbal parallel about God supplying food to ravens that cry.
- Psalm 104:27-28 (thematic): Speaks of all creatures waiting on God to give them their food in due season, echoing Job’s concern with who prepares food for animals.
- Luke 12:24 (allusion): Jesus cites the raven as an example of God’s provision (“consider the ravens… yet God feeds them”), echoing the Job imagery of God providing for birds’ young.
- Matthew 6:26 (thematic): Jesus’ teaching to look at the birds of the air as evidence of the Father’s care parallels Job’s depiction of God supplying food for the young ravens.
Alternative generated candidates
- Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young cry to God and wander about for lack of food?
- Who provides for the raven its prey when its young cry to God, wandering about for lack of food?
Job.39.1 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- הידעת: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- עת: NOUN,f,sg,cons
- לדת: VERB,qal,inf
- יעלי: NOUN,m,pl,const
- סלע: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- חלל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אילות: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- תשמר: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 38:39-41 (verbal): Another set of God's rhetorical questions about animals (lions and ravens), continuing the catalogue of creatures and human ignorance of their ways—parallel in form and function to the question about mountain goats and does.
- Job 38:8-11 (structural): Part of the same divine speech that frames creation with rhetorical questions; like 39:1 it emphasizes God's sovereign ordering of nature and human inability to command or fully comprehend it.
- Psalm 104:21, 27-30 (thematic): Psalmic portrait of God's providence for wild animals and their young (e.g., lions and all living things), thematically resonant with Job's focus on births and God's governance of animal life.
- Psalm 139:13-16 (thematic): Speaks of God's intimate knowledge and formation of life before birth—provides a theological contrast to Job's challenge about human knowledge of animal births, highlighting divine omniscience regarding birth and life.
Alternative generated candidates
- Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch the calving of the does?
- Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth? Do you mark the calving of the does?
Job.39.2 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- תספר: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- ירחים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- תמלאנה: VERB,qal,impf,3,f,pl
- וידעת: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- עת: NOUN,f,sg,cons
- לדתנה: VERB,qal,infc,3,f,pl
Parallels
- Psalm 104:19 (thematic): Connects months/seasons to the moon’s ordering of time—both verses highlight celestial regulation of months and appointed times.
- Genesis 1:14 (thematic): God assigns lights in the heavens 'for signs and for seasons'—parallels the theme of appointed times and human inability to master those cycles.
- Ecclesiastes 3:1 (thematic): Declares that there is a time and season for everything—echoes the question of knowing the proper timing of natural events (e.g., births).
- Job 38:32 (structural): Another of God’s rhetorical questions to Job about celestial cycles (Pleiades/Orion); matches the interrogative style and theme of human ignorance vs. divine order.
- Psalm 147:4 (thematic): Speaks of God numbering and naming the stars—parallels the idea that knowledge of cosmic timing (months/seasons) belongs to God, not humans.
Alternative generated candidates
- Can you number their months, and know the time when they give birth?
- Can you number the months that they fulfill, or know the time when they bring forth?
Job.39.3 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- תכרענה: VERB,qal,impf,3,f,pl
- ילדיהן: NOUN,m,pl,abs,poss+3,fp
- תפלחנה: VERB,qal,impf,3,f,pl
- חבליהם: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- תשלחנה: VERB,qal,impf,3,f,pl
Parallels
- Job 39:1-4 (structural): Immediate context: the same series of rhetorical questions about mountain goats/doe giving birth and the handling of their offspring—verse 3 continues this unit about parturition and the umbilical cord.
- Job 39:13-18 (thematic): Another portrait in the same chapter of an animal's reproductive behavior (the ostrich) used to display diverse creatures' instincts and to highlight God's wisdom in creation.
- Psalm 104:17-18 (thematic): Mentions wild/mountain goats and their habitat (high hills/rocks); thematically parallels Job’s focus on the lives and ways of mountain animals as signs of God's ordering of nature.
- Psalm 104:27-30 (thematic): Speaks of all creatures looking to God for provision and life; parallels Job’s motif that animal birth, care, and survival are governed by divine providence and inscrutable design.
- Proverbs 30:24-28 (thematic): A list of small creatures whose instinctive behaviors (including provision and offspring care) teach wisdom; parallels Job’s use of animal life and reproductive behavior to instruct about creation’s order and God’s sovereignty.
Alternative generated candidates
- They bow down, they bring forth their young; they cast out their labor pains.
- They bow down, they bring forth their young, they deliver their labor-pains.
Job.39.4 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- יחלמו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- בניהם: NOUN,m,pl,abs+3,pl
- ירבו: VERB,qal,imf,3,m,pl
- בבר: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יצאו: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- ולא: CONJ
- שבו: VERB,qal,impv,2,m,pl
- למו: PREP+PRON,3,m,pl
Parallels
- Job 39:1-3 (structural): Immediate context — the questions about mountain goats and hinds birthing and rearing their young frame v.4; together they portray wild animals whose young grow up and go their own way.
- Psalm 104:21-22 (thematic): Like Job 39:4, these verses describe young wild animals (lions) that pursue prey and act independently of parental care, highlighting nature’s self‑sufficiency.
- Deuteronomy 22:6-7 (thematic): A legal/ethical contrast: the law commands mercy toward a mother bird and her young, reflecting human responsibility for offspring versus the independent fate of wild young in Job 39:4.
- Proverbs 30:24-28 (thematic): A series of observations about small animals’ instinctive behavior (e.g., the coney, locust) that, like Job 39:4, emphasize creatures’ natural patterns of life and self‑reliance.
- Matthew 10:29-31 (allusion): Jesus’ remark about sparrows and God’s knowledge of them contrasts human value before God with the autonomy of wild creatures in Job 39:4, underscoring differing divine care and the status of offspring.
Alternative generated candidates
- Their young grow strong; they grow up in the open; they go forth and do not return to them.
- Their offspring grow up; they go forth and do not return to them.
Job.39.5 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- מי: PRON,interr,sg
- שלח: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- פרא: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- חפשי: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ומסרות: CONJ+NOUN,f,pl,abs
- ערוד: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- מי: PRON,interr,sg
- פתח: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Genesis 2:19 (structural): God forms the beasts of the field — parallels Job's rhetorical question about who set the wild donkey free by pointing to God as the originator/creator of animals.
- Job 12:7-10 (thematic): Job is urged to 'ask the beasts' because creation testifies to God's wisdom and care; thematically related to the series of rhetorical questions about God's sovereign control over wild animals.
- Psalm 104:24-27 (thematic): Psalm praises God's ordering and provision for all creatures ('How many are your works' / 'These all look to you'), echoing the theme of divine sovereignty and provision behind the freedom and life of wild animals.
- Isaiah 45:12 (structural): God's explicit claim 'I made the earth' and fashioned its inhabitants parallels the implied answer to Job's question: the Creator is the one who set creatures, including the wild donkey, in their place and freedom.
Alternative generated candidates
- Who sent out the wild donkey free? Who loosed the bonds of the swift ass,
- Who let the wild ass go free? Who loosed his bonds?
Job.39.6 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אשר: PRON,rel
- שמתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,_,sg
- ערבה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ביתו: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ומשכנותיו: CONJ+NOUN,f,pl,abs,poss:3ms
- מלחה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Job 38:41 (thematic): Both passages are part of God's speech about animals: God rhetorically asserts his provision and sovereign appointment of habitats and sustenance for wild creatures, paralleling the claim that he has made the wilderness the donkey's home.
- Psalm 104:18 (verbal): Psalm 104 assigns specific habitats to animals ('the high mountains are for the wild goats'), echoing Job 39:6's motif of God establishing particular terrain (wilderness/salt land) as an animal's dwelling.
- Isaiah 34:14 (thematic): Isaiah's portrayal of desolate lands inhabited by wild creatures (satyrs, hyenas, owls) parallels Job 39:6's image of the wilderness/salt land as the proper dwelling for certain animals.
- Jeremiah 50:39 (verbal): Jeremiah describes desolation where 'desert creatures shall dwell,' using language of wild animals taking up residence in ruined/desolate terrain that closely parallels the wording and setting of Job 39:6.
Alternative generated candidates
- to whom I gave the steppe for his home, and the salty land for his dwelling place?
- I gave him the steppe for his home, and the salt land for his dwelling-place.
Job.39.7 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ישחק: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- להמון: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,def
- קריה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- תשאות: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- נוגש: VERB,qal,part,3,m,sg
- לא: PART_NEG
- ישמע: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 39:19-25 (verbal): Same chapter’s extended description of the horse in battle — echoes the motif of fearless, war‑ready animals that ‘do not turn back from the sword,’ making this verse part of a continuous portrait.
- Proverbs 30:29-31 (thematic): Lists animals that move with confidence and stateliness (e.g., the horse/warhorse), thematically paralleling Job’s attention to animals’ boldness and indifference to human alarm.
- Proverbs 21:31 (thematic): ‘The horse is prepared for the day of battle’ — connects the image of animals (especially the horse) fitted for combat and unshaken by the tumult described in Job 39:7.
- Psalm 20:7-8 (thematic): Speaks of reliance on chariots and horses in battle and their role amid cries and warfare, thematically resonant with Job’s depiction of an animal unconcerned by human shouts.
- Jeremiah 12:5 (thematic): Uses running with horses as an image of strenuous struggle; parallels Job’s focus on animals’ prowess and fearless endurance in the face of human pursuit and noise.
Alternative generated candidates
- He scorns the tumult of the city; he hears not the shouts of the driver.
- He scorns the tumult of the city; he hears not the shouts of the driver.
Job.39.8 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- יתור: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- הרים: NOUN,m,pl,cons
- מרעהו: NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,3,m,sg
- ואחר: CONJ
- כל: DET
- ירוק: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- ידרוש: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 39:1 (structural): Same unit on mountain-dwelling animals (mountain goats); sets context of animals that leave high pastures to give birth or graze, linking the theme of mountain pasture and animal behavior within the chapter.
- Job 39:10 (verbal): Also concerns a large untamed beast (the 'unicorn' or wild ox) and human inability to control or employ it; parallels the motif of wild animals acting independently of human will (ploughing/working vs. seeking pasture).
- Psalm 104:14 (thematic): Speaks of God causing grass to grow for cattle and plants for people, connecting the idea of animals seeking green pasture and God’s provision of vegetation for grazing.
- Psalm 104:18 (thematic): Describes high hills as a refuge for wild goats—parallels the imagery of mountain-dwelling animals and their relationship to rocky heights and pasture.
- Ezekiel 34:14 (thematic): God promises to feed his flock on good pasture and grazing in the high mountains—ties the motif of pasture, mountains, and animal sustenance to divine provision and animal behavior.
Alternative generated candidates
- He ranges the mountains as his pasture, and seeks fresh every green thing.
- He ranges the mountains for his pasture, and searches after every green thing.
Job.39.9 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- היאבה: NOUN,f,sg,def
- רים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- עבדך: NOUN,m,sg,abs,2,ms
- אם: CONJ
- ילין: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- על: PREP
- אבוסך: NOUN,m,sg,abs+2ms
Parallels
- Numbers 23:22 (verbal): Uses the same Hebrew noun re'em (often rendered 'unicorn' or 'wild ox') to evoke great strength—lexical parallel to Job's 'reem' (wild ox) imagery.
- Numbers 24:8 (verbal): Again employs re'em in a poetic description of mighty, untamed strength—verbal parallel that links the creature in Job 39:9 with a biblical motif of formidable wild beasts.
- Deuteronomy 33:17 (allusion): Refers to 'the horns of the wild ox' (reem) as a symbol of power and unbroken strength—an allusive use of the same animal-image to signify untamed might rather than domestication.
- Psalm 104:21-22 (thematic): Speaks of wild creatures acting independently and relying on God rather than humans; thematically parallels Job 39:9's point that certain animals will not serve or be yoked to people.
Alternative generated candidates
- Will the wild ox be willing to serve you, to come and spend the night at your manger?
- Will the wild ox be willing to serve you, or will he spend the night at your crib?
Job.39.10 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ה: PART
- תקשר: VERB,hitpael,impf,3,ms,sg
- רים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- בתלם: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- עבתו: NOUN,f,sg,abs+3,ms,poss
- אם: CONJ
- ישדד: VERB,qal,impf,3,ms,sg
- עמקים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- אחריך: NOUN,m,sg,abs,2,m
Parallels
- Job 39:9 (structural): Immediate context: v.9–12 form a unit about the wild ox and human inability to tame or harness it; v.10 specifically asks whether the beast can be yoked to plow, continuing the same rhetorical challenge.
- Isaiah 1:3 (thematic): Both images invoke ox and donkey in relation to humans: Isaiah contrasts animals that know their owner with Israel's ignorance, while Job asks whether humans can bind and control a wild ox—contrasting human control and animal behaviour.
- Psalm 50:10–11 (thematic): Asserts God’s sovereign ownership and knowledge of all animals (“for every beast of the forest is mine”), echoing Job’s theme that control over beasts belongs ultimately to the creator rather than to humans.
- Deuteronomy 25:4 (thematic): Uses the agricultural image of an ox treading grain and its treatment; connects to Job’s ploughing/harness imagery and concerns about the proper relation between humans and working animals.
- Psalm 104:14–15 (thematic): Describes God’s ordering and provision for beasts and domestic animals (food, work), resonating with Job’s point that the ordering and control of animal life lie with God rather than with human mastery.
Alternative generated candidates
- Can you bind him in the furrow with a ring, or will he harrow valleys after you?
- Can you bind him in the furrow with ropes, or will he harrow the valleys after you?
Job.39.11 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- התבטח: VERB,hithpael,perf,3,m,sg
- בו: PREP+PRON,3,m,sg
- כי: CONJ
- רב: ADJ,m,sg
- כחו: NOUN,m,sg,abs+SUFF:3,m,sg
- ותעזב: CONJ+VERB,qal,impf,3,f,sg
- אליו: PREP+PRON,3,m,sg
- יגיעך: NOUN,m,sg,suff
Parallels
- Psalm 33:17 (verbal): Explicitly states that a horse is a vain hope for deliverance — despite its great strength it cannot save, directly echoing the idea of not trusting in a creature's power.
- Psalm 20:7 (thematic): Contrasts those who trust in chariots and horses with those who trust in the LORD; parallels Job's rhetorical questioning of reliance on brute strength.
- Isaiah 31:1 (thematic): Condemns reliance on horses and chariots (Egypt) instead of trusting God — a prophetic rebuke of trust in military/animal strength similar to Job's challenge.
- Jeremiah 17:5 (thematic): Pronounces a curse on those who trust in man/flesh rather than the LORD, reflecting the broader theological theme against misplaced trust in strength rather than God.
- Psalm 44:6–8 (allusion): Speaks of not trusting in bow or sword (human/military means) but relying on God for victory, resonating with Job's questioning of confidence in physical strength.
Alternative generated candidates
- Will you trust him because his strength is great and leave to him your labor?
- Will you trust him because his strength is great, and leave to him your labor?
Job.39.12 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- התאמין: VERB,hithpael,perf,3,m,sg
- בו: PREP+PRON,3,m,sg
- כי: CONJ
- ישיב: VERB,hifil,imperfect,3,m,sg
- זרעך: NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,2,m,sg
- וגרנך: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs,prs-suf,2,m,sg
- יאסף: VERB,qal,imprf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Genesis 8:22 (thematic): Affirms God's ordering of 'seedtime and harvest'—a background theme of divine control over crop production and the return of seed.
- Psalm 104:14-15 (thematic): Speaks of God causing plants to grow and providing food for people, echoing the idea that sustenance and gathered grain depend on divine action.
- 2 Corinthians 9:10 (verbal): Uses explicit seed imagery—'He who supplies seed to the sower'—linking God as the one who provides and multiplies seed/resources for harvest.
- Matthew 6:26-30 (thematic): Jesus' teaching to trust God for provision (look at the birds) parallels Job's rhetorical question about trusting for the return/gathering of one's seed/grain.
- Galatians 6:7 (thematic): The principle of sowing and reaping connects to the imagery of seed and gathered grain—human action and its results framed within divine order.
Alternative generated candidates
- Will you believe him to bring home your grain and gather it to your threshing floor?
- Will you have faith in him that he will return your seed and gather your grain to your threshing-floor?
Job.39.13 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- כנף: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- רננים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- נעלסה: VERB,qal,perf,3,f,sg
- אם: CONJ
- אברה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- חסידה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ונצה: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Job 39:15 (structural): Immediate context in the same speech describing the ostrich’s behavior (eggs on the ground, lack of care) — completes the portrait begun in 39:13.
- Job 39:26 (thematic): Another rhetorical question about birds in the same chapter (“Does the hawk fly by your wisdom?”) — parallels the theme of God’s sovereign ordering of animal instincts vs. human understanding.
- Jeremiah 8:7 (thematic): Mentions the stork (חסידה) and other birds knowing their seasons — thematically parallels Job’s use of bird behavior to illustrate innate, God-ordained patterns.
- Deuteronomy 14:18 (verbal): Lists the stork (חסידה) among birds in the purity laws — a lexical parallel to the term חסידה in Job 39:13, linking cultic classification with natural imagery.
Alternative generated candidates
- Does the ostrich flap her wings proudly? Does she spread her pinions like the stork?
- The wings of the ostrich wave proudly—are they the pinions and plumage of love?
Job.39.14 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- כי: CONJ
- תעזב: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- לארץ: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- בציה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ועל: CONJ+PREP
- עפר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- תחמם: VERB,qal,impf,3,f,sg
Parallels
- Job 39:15 (verbal): Immediate continuation of the ostrich description — repeats the theme of neglecting her eggs and forgetting that they may be trampled or crushed (closely parallel wording and idea).
- Job 39:16 (verbal): Further continuation in the same speech about the ostrich’s apparent indifference to its young and the consequences — part of the same verbal/structural unit on the bird’s behavior.
- Deuteronomy 22:6-7 (thematic): Law concerning a bird’s nest and the human duty to return the mother when taking eggs or young — thematically contrasts human responsibility for bird eggs with the ostrich’s abandonment of its eggs in the dust.
- Isaiah 34:13-15 (allusion): Prophetic imagery of desolation populated by wild birds and ground-dwelling creatures (including the ostrich in some translations); uses similar ground-nesting/inhabiting motifs, echoing the image of birds and eggs on the earth.
Alternative generated candidates
- For she leaves her eggs on the ground and warms them in the dust,
- For she leaves her eggs on the ground, warms them in the dust,
Job.39.15 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ותשכח: VERB,qal,perf,2,m,sg
- כי: CONJ
- רגל: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- תזורה: VERB,qal,imf,3,f,sg
- וחית: CONJ+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- השדה: NOUN,m,sg,def
- תדושה: VERB,qal,imf,3,f,sg
Parallels
- Job 39:14 (verbal): Immediate context describing the ostrich’s behavior (laying eggs on the ground); closely parallel in vocabulary and scene.
- Job 39:16 (structural): Continues the same description — emphasizes the mother’s apparent neglect and lack of concern for her offspring, completing the thought of v.15.
- Deuteronomy 32:11 (thematic): Uses bird parental imagery (the eagle stirring its nest) to depict protective care — a thematic contrast to the ostrich’s apparent neglect in Job 39:15.
- Matthew 23:37 (thematic): Jesus’ image of a hen gathering her chicks under her wings highlights caring parental protection, offering a theological/imagistic counterpoint to the ostrich’s forgetfulness.
- Isaiah 13:21 (allusion): Mentions ostriches dwelling in desolate places; echoes biblical use of ostrich imagery and helps situate Job’s depiction within wider prophetic/poetic motifs about the bird.
Alternative generated candidates
- and she forgets that a foot may crush them, or that a wild beast may trample them.
- and forgets that a foot may crush them, or that a wild beast may trample them.
Job.39.16 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- הקשיח: VERB,hifil,perf,3,m,sg
- בניה: NOUN,m,pl,abs,poss3,m
- ללא: PREP
- לה: PREP+PRON,3,f,sg
- לריק: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יגיעה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- בלי: PREP
- פחד: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Job 39:15 (verbal): Immediate context: continuation of the ostrich description—she leaves her eggs on the ground and forgets them. Shares the same imagery and language about the bird’s apparent indifference to its young.
- Job 39:17 (structural): Closely linked verse in the same unit that repeats and amplifies the theme of the ostrich’s hardening toward its young and lack of fear despite toil; part of the same rhetorical build.
- Matthew 6:26 (thematic): Jesus cites birds as examples of creatures that do not worry about provision; thematically related through bird imagery and the motif of apparent fearlessness or unconcern.
- Luke 12:24 (thematic): Parallel to Matthew 6:26 (Lukan form): the raven/birds are held up as objects that do not toil yet are cared for—connects to the Bible’s broader use of bird behavior to teach about anxiety, providence, and perceived carelessness.
- Psalm 147:9 (thematic): Speaks of God providing for the young ravens when they cry. Uses bird imagery to underscore divine care and contrasts human assumptions about birds’ vulnerability and fearlessness, resonant with Job’s depiction of the ostrich.
Alternative generated candidates
- She pins them under her until they are warm; she behaves as though they were not her own; her labor is in vain—though she has no fear.
- She hardens herself against her young, as though they were not hers; she has no fear that her labor is in vain;
Job.39.17 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- כי: CONJ
- השה: NOUN,m,sg,def
- אלוה: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- חכמה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ולא: CONJ
- חלק: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- לה: PREP+PRON,3,f,sg
- בבינה: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Proverbs 2:6 (verbal): Proverb declares 'The LORD gives wisdom; from his mouth come knowledge and understanding,' contrasting Job's statement that God has withheld wisdom from the ostrich.
- Proverbs 8:22-31 (allusion): Personified Wisdom is portrayed as a divine prerogative present at creation, underscoring the idea that wisdom is a gift of God—hence some creatures may lack it.
- Job 28:28 (structural): Within the same book Job/God locates the source of true wisdom in reverence for the Lord, reinforcing the theme that wisdom belongs to God and is not universally granted.
- Job 12:13 (thematic): Job admits 'With God are wisdom and might; he has counsel and understanding,' echoing the motif that wisdom resides with God and may be withheld from his creatures.
- Psalm 104:24 (thematic): Speaks of God's wisdom displayed in creation ('How many are your works, O LORD! In wisdom you made them all'), paralleling the theme that God determines the abilities (or lack) of creatures.
Alternative generated candidates
- For God has deprived her of wisdom; he has not given her a share of understanding.
- for God has deprived her of wisdom, and has not imparted to her understanding.
Job.39.18 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- כעת: ADV
- במרום: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- תמריא: VERB,qal,impf,2,ms
- תשחק: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- לסוס: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ולרכבו: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs+PRON,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Isaiah 40:31 (thematic): Image of mounting up/soaring ('they shall mount up with wings like eagles') parallels the motif of rising high/soaring in Job 39:18.
- Psalm 147:10-11 (verbal): Declares that God takes no pleasure in the strength of the horse and that the LORD delights in those who fear him—resonates with Job's image of laughing at the horse and its rider, devaluing human cavalry.
- Psalm 20:7 (thematic): ‘Some trust in chariots and some in horses…’ contrasts human reliance on horses/chariots with divine power, thematically related to the contemptuous image of laughing at horse and rider.
- Exodus 15:1,4 (structural): The song after the Red Sea celebrates God’s overthrow of Pharaoh’s chariot, throwing horse and rider into the sea—narrative parallel to the motif of divine/ascendant superiority over horse and rider in Job 39:18.
Alternative generated candidates
- Yet when she lifts herself up on high she laughs at the horse and his rider.
- At a glance she boasts herself, and laughs at the horse and his rider.
Job.39.19 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- התתן: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- לסוס: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- גבורה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- התלביש: VERB,hitpael,impf,2,m,sg
- צוארו: NOUN,m,sg,abs+3,m,sg
- רעמה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Job 39:20 (structural): Immediate continuation of the same speech about the horse—develops the same imagery of the horse’s strength and behavior in battle, closely linked in wording and context.
- Psalm 147:10-11 (thematic): Declares that God takes no pleasure in the horse’s strength, contrasting human reliance on equine power with divine sovereignty—a thematic counterpoint to the question about giving the horse strength.
- Psalm 33:17 (thematic): Says the horse is a vain hope for salvation and cannot deliver by its great strength, echoing the motif that equine strength is not ultimately decisive.
- Proverbs 21:31 (thematic): ‘The horse is made ready for the day of battle; but safety is of the LORD’—parallels the idea of the horse as a war-instrument whose effectiveness is subordinate to God’s will.
- Isaiah 31:1 (thematic): Condemns reliance on horses and chariots for help rather than on the LORD, reflecting the same theological theme about the limits of horse‑power and trust in God.
Alternative generated candidates
- Have you given the horse his might? Have you clothed his neck with a mane?
- Have you given the horse his might? Have you clothed his neck with thunder?
Job.39.20 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- התרעישנו: VERB,hitpael,perf,3,m,pl
- כארבה: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- הוד: NOUN,m,sg,cons
- נחרו: VERB,qal,perf,3,f,pl
- אימה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Psalm 20:7 (thematic): Both verses invoke horses/chariots and the context of battle to make a theological point about warfare and human reliance on martial power (trust in horses/chariots versus God).
- Isaiah 31:1 (thematic): Isaiah condemns trust in horses and chariots for military security; Job’s vivid picture of the war-horse similarly centers on martial might and the scene of battle, linking the animal’s fearlessness to broader prophetic warnings about relying on military force.
- Habakkuk 1:8 (verbal): Habakkuk’s description of swift, fierce horses in an oncoming army parallels Job’s martial imagery—both emphasize the terror, speed, and ferocity of horses associated with human conflict.
- Nahum 2:4-5 (structural): Nahum’s rapid, sensory depiction of chariots and horsemen charging through the city mirrors Job’s dynamic battle-scene language (noise, rushing, terror), using similar motifs of clamor and the horse’s role in warfare.
Alternative generated candidates
- Will you make him leap like a locust? His majestic snorting is terrorsome.
- Can you make him leap like the locust? His majestic snorting is terrifying.
Job.39.21 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- יחפרו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- בעמק: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- וישיש: CONJ+VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- בכח: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יצא: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- לקראת: PREP
- נשק: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Proverbs 30:29-31 (thematic): Like Job's catalogue of animals that display boldness and a stately, fearless bearing (the goat/rock imagery), Proverbs 30 lists animals (including the he-goat) whose confident gait and refusal to turn back parallel the depiction of animals 'going out to meet' danger.
- Proverbs 21:31 (thematic): Proverbs speaks of the horse being made ready 'for the day of battle'—a direct thematic echo of Job's image of animals in relation to weapons and warfare (animals prepared to face armed conflict).
- Psalm 104:21-22 (thematic): Psalm 104 describes wild animals and their vigorous, predatory activity (young lions roaring, seeking prey), paralleling Job's focus on the natural boldness and aggressive behavior of creatures that confront danger.
- 1 Samuel 17:45-47 (thematic): David's fearless approach to the armed Goliath—going out unafraid to meet a weapons-bearing foe—parallels Job's motif of creatures that 'go out to meet' weapons, emphasizing courage before armed danger.
Alternative generated candidates
- He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength; he gallops to meet the weapons.
- He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength; he charges into the thick of the battle.
Job.39.22 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ישחק: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- לפחד: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ולא: CONJ
- יחת: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- ולא: CONJ
- ישוב: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- מפני: PREP
- חרב: NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Proverbs 28:1 (thematic): Contrasts fear and boldness—'the righteous are bold as a lion' parallels the war-horse’s fearless demeanor ('laughs at fear, is not dismayed').
- Proverbs 21:31 (verbal): Uses horse-in-battle imagery ('The horse is made ready for the day of battle') that echoes Job’s description of the war-horse confronting the sword.
- 1 Samuel 17:45-47 (thematic): David’s fearless stance before Goliath—refusing to be dismayed by sword and spear—parallels the motif of courageous steadiness in battle.
- Psalm 18:39 (2 Samuel 22:40) (thematic): God equips the psalmist 'with strength for battle' so enemies fall and he does not turn back—similar theme of divine-abled courage and steadfastness in combat.
Alternative generated candidates
- He laughs at fear and is not dismayed; he does not turn back from the sword.
- He laughs at fear and is not dismayed; he does not turn back from the sword.
Job.39.23 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- עליו: PREP,3,m,sg
- תרנה: VERB,qal,impf,3,f,sg
- אשפה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- להב: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- חנית: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- וכידון: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Job 39:22 (verbal): Immediate context in the war-horse section — similarly speaks of the horse’s lack of fear and demeanor in battle (laughs at fear; undismayed by weapons).
- 1 Samuel 17:45 (verbal): David confronts Goliath naming his 'sword and spear' — a verbal/thematic echo of confrontation with spear/javelin and fearlessness before weapons.
- Psalm 20:7 (thematic): Contrasts human confidence in chariots and horses with trust in God; thematically relates to the war-horse and reliance on martial strength.
- Isaiah 31:1 (thematic): Condemns those who rely on horses and chariots for help in battle — parallels the imagery of horses and trust in military power.
- Nahum 2:4 (thematic): Vivid battlefield imagery of chariots and the noise/rush of battle; parallels the sound and tumult of weapons (spears/javelins) described in Job’s war-horse picture.
Alternative generated candidates
- The bow rattles against him, the flashing spear and the javelin.
- Upon him the quiver rattles, the flashing spear and the javelin.
Job.39.24 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ברעש: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ורגז: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יגמא: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- ארץ: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ולא: CONJ
- יאמין: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- כי: CONJ
- קול: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- שופר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Psalm 29:3-9 (thematic): The psalm describes the LORD's voice as thunder that strips forests and makes the earth tremble—echoing Job's imagery of great noise (a trumpet/voice) and the earth's convulsion.
- Psalm 18:7-8 (18:6-7 MT) (thematic): David depicts the earth shaking and the foundations of the mountains moved at the LORD's anger/voice—parallel motif of violent shaking in response to a tremendous sound.
- Judges 7:22 (structural): When Gideon's men blew the trumpets the enemy turned on one another and fled—a direct example of the trumpet's role as a battle signal and its decisive, earth-shaking effect in warfare, resonant with Job's trumpet imagery.
- Nahum 1:5 (allusion): Nahum portrays mountains quaking and hills melting before God—another instance of cosmic trembling in the face of divine or overwhelming sound/presence, comparable to Job's depiction of tumult and shaking.
Alternative generated candidates
- He swallows the ground with fierceness and rage; he will not stand still at the sound of the trumpet.
- With fierceness and rage he swallows the ground; he will not stand still at the blast of the trumpet.
Job.39.25 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- בדי: PREP
- שפר: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- יאמר: VERB,qal,imperfect,3,m,sg
- האח: NOUN,m,sg,def
- ומרחוק: CONJ,PREP
- יריח: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- מלחמה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- רעם: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- שרים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ותרועה: CONJ,NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Joel 2:1 (thematic): Both verses use the trumpet/signal of alarm to announce approaching battle; Joel summons the people with a trumpet blast as a precursor to invasion, paralleling the horse’s reaction to the trumpet in Job.
- Zechariah 9:14 (thematic): Zechariah depicts the LORD blowing a trumpet before his army and bringing judgment—similar imagery of trumpet-blown onset of conflict and the appearance of forces from afar in Job 39:25.
- Psalm 47:5 (verbal): Psalm 47 links the LORD’s ascent with the sound of a trumpet and a shout; both texts emphasize the trumpet’s cry and the attendant shout/response in a martial or divine assembly context.
- Revelation 8:6-7 (structural): The trumpet blasts in Revelation function as preludes to world-shaking events and warfare; structurally this mirrors Job’s motif where the trumpet’s sound signals the imminence of battle and commotion.
Alternative generated candidates
- When the trumpet sounds he says ‘Aha!’ From afar he smells the battle, the thunder of captains and the shouting.
- At the blast of the trumpet he says, 'Aha!' From afar he smells the battle, the thunder of captains and the shouting.
Job.39.26 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ה: PART
- מבינתך: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs,2ms
- יאבר: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- נץ: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יפרש: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- כנפיו: NOUN,f,pl,abs+PRON,3,m,sg
- לתימן: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,prop
Parallels
- Deuteronomy 32:11 (verbal): Uses the eagle image and striking wing/brooding language ('like an eagle that stirs up its nest')—similar vocabulary and imagery about an eagle's wings and movement.
- Proverbs 30:18-19 (thematic): Lists 'the way of an eagle in the sky' as one of life's inscrutable wonders, paralleling Job's marveling at the hawk's flight and instincts.
- Exodus 19:4 (allusion): God's metaphor of bearing/raising on eagles' wings relates to the motif of divine control and care manifested through the eagle's flight—echoes the connection between birds' wings and divine providence.
- Isaiah 40:31 (thematic): Speaks of mounting up on wings like eagles—shares the theme of lofty, sustained flight as a symbol of strength and divine renewal, resonant with Job's description of the hawk.
- Job 39:27-30 (structural): Immediate continuation of the same speech about the hawk/eagle; develops the same subject (its sight, hunting, and freedom), so functions as an internal parallel and amplification.
Alternative generated candidates
- Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars and spreads her wings toward the south?
- Is the hawk by your wisdom mounted, and spreads his wings to the south?
Job.39.27 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אם: CONJ
- על: PREP
- פיך: NOUN,m,sg,abs+2ms
- יגביה: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- נשר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- וכי: CONJ
- ירים: VERB,qal,yiqtol,3,m,sg
- קנו: NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 39:26 (structural): Immediate context: a preceding rhetorical question about a bird (the hawk) that flies by its own insight — part of the same series of questions highlighting animals' independence from human control.
- Deuteronomy 32:11 (verbal): Uses the image of an eagle stirring up its nest and bearing its young on its wings — closely parallels the eagle/nest and divine care imagery and the eagle's soaring in Job 39:27.
- Exodus 19:4 (thematic): God says He bore Israel 'on eagles' wings' — employs the eagle as a symbol of divine power and care, echoing the motif of God's sovereignty over creatures implicit in Job's questioning of human authority over the eagle.
- Isaiah 40:31 (thematic): Speaks of mounting up 'with wings like eagles' to express renewal of strength — thematically related to the eagle's characteristic soaring invoked in Job 39:27 to illustrate abilities beyond human command.
- Proverbs 30:19 (verbal): Lists 'the way of an eagle in the sky' as one of the inscrutable ways — parallels Job's emphasis on the eagle's autonomous, lofty flight as beyond human comprehension or control.
Alternative generated candidates
- Does the eagle mount up at your command and make her nest on high?
- Does the eagle rise at your command, and make his nest on high?
Job.39.28 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- סלע: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ישכן: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- ויתלנן: VERB,hitpael,impf,3,m,sg
- על: PREP
- שן: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- סלע: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ומצודה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Psalm 104:18 (verbal): Uses the same imagery of mountain goats/wild animals dwelling on high rocks and crags—verbal and thematic overlap with Job’s description of an animal that 'dwells on the rock'.
- Proverbs 30:26 (verbal): Speaks of small animals making their homes in the rocks ('they make their houses in the rocks'), a close verbal parallel to Job’s note that it 'dwells on the rock' and finds refuge in crags.
- Psalm 18:2 (structural): Describes God as 'my rock' and 'my fortress'—echoes the same lexical pair (rock/fortress, מצודה) used in Job to portray rock as a place of refuge and strength.
- Psalm 31:3 (thematic): Also invokes God as 'a rock' and 'a fortress/stronghold,' reflecting the broader biblical motif of rocks/crags as places of refuge parallel to the physical refuge of animals in Job 39:28.
Alternative generated candidates
- She dwells and lodges on the rock, on the crag and stronghold.
- On the rock he dwells and makes his home, on the crag and stronghold.
Job.39.29 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- משם: PREP
- חפר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אכל: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- למרחוק: PREP
- עיניו: NOUN,f,pl,suff
- יביטו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
Parallels
- Job 39:26 (structural): Same descriptive unit about a bird of prey in Job 39—earlier verse asks whether the hawk/eagle flies by your command, linking divine control to the bird’s far‑seeing, prey‑seeking behavior described in 39:29.
- Proverbs 30:18-19 (thematic): Lists ‘the way of an eagle in the air’ among mysterious natural behaviors—parallels Job’s observation of a raptor that scans and seeks food from afar.
- Habakkuk 1:8 (thematic): Compares swift, distant‑striking attackers to ‘the eagle that hasteth to the prey,’ echoing the image of a bird spotting and descending on food from a distance.
- Luke 17:37 (thematic): ‘Where the body is, there the eagles will be gathered’—uses the same predator imagery of birds homing in on prey/carrion from afar, resonating with Job’s picture of distant sight and seeking.
Alternative generated candidates
- From there she spies out the prey; her eyes see it from afar.
- From there he spies out the prey; his eyes behold it from afar.
Job.39.30 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ואפרחיו: CONJ+NOUN,m,pl,abs,poss:3ms
- יעלעו: VERB,qal,impf,3,pl
- דם: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ובאשר: CONJ+REL
- חללים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- שם: ADV
- הוא: PRON,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 39:27-29 (verbal): Immediate context describing the same bird of prey: its lofty nest, searching from the rock and seeking prey — closely parallels verse 30's image of the young taking blood and presence at the slain.
- Deuteronomy 28:26 (thematic): As part of the curse, the dead are given as food to the birds of the heavens — echoes the motif of birds feeding on corpses ('where the slain are, there is [the bird]').
- Psalm 79:2 (thematic): Speaks of enemies making the bodies of God's servants food for the birds of the sky, paralleling the theme of scavenging birds at the place of the slain.
- Ezekiel 39:17-20 (thematic): God summons the birds to feast on the flesh of the fallen in the valley of the commanders — a prophetic scene that closely mirrors the image of birds gathering where the slain lie.
- Revelation 19:17-21 (allusion): An angel calls the birds to the 'supper of the great God' to eat the flesh of the defeated — Christian-apocalyptic echo of the biblical motif of birds consuming the slain.
Alternative generated candidates
- Her young ones suck up blood; and wherever the slain are, there she is.
- And his young ones suck up blood; and where the slain are, there is he.
Job.40.1 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ויען: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- את: PRT,acc
- איוב: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- ויאמר: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 38:1 (verbal): Same formula introducing the LORD’s address to Job—'The LORD answered Job'—marking the beginning of God's speeches from the whirlwind.
- Job 40:6 (structural): Immediate parallel within the same speech cycle: another divine address to Job ('And the LORD said to Job'), continuing the pattern of God speaking directly to him.
- Job 42:7 (thematic): God again speaks to the participants at the book’s close, reproving Job’s friends for speaking wrongly about God—shows the theme of divine response and vindication introduced by the earlier divine speeches.
- Exodus 6:2 (structural): Example of the common OT literary formula 'God spoke/answered' (וַיְדַבֵּר אֱלֹהִים אֶל־…), a structural parallel for introductions to divine speech to humans.
Alternative generated candidates
- Then the LORD answered Job and said,
- Then the LORD answered Job and said,
Job.40.2 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- הרב: NOUN,m,sg,def
- עם: PREP
- שדי: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יסור: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- מוכיח: VERB,piel,part,3,m,sg
- אלוה: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יעננה: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 38:1-3 (structural): Another opening of the divine speech that confronts Job with rhetorical questions and challenges his ability to dispute with the Almighty; similar function and voice as the rebuke in 40:2.
- Romans 9:20 (verbal): Paul echoes the same stance toward human reply to God—'Who are you that answers back to God?'—a near verbal and theological parallel about the impropriety of contending with the Almighty.
- Job 13:3 (thematic): Job asserts his wish to answer and argue his case before God; thematically related as both verses frame the possibility and propriety of responding to the Almighty from opposite perspectives.
- Isaiah 40:12-13 (thematic): Rhetorical questions about God's incomprehensible wisdom and power that underscore human inability to contend with or fully comprehend God, echoing the theme of 40:2.
Alternative generated candidates
- Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who reproves God, let him answer it.
- Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who reproves God, let him answer.
Job.40.3 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ויען: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- איוב: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- את: PRT,acc
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- ויאמר: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 38:1 (structural): Reverses the speech relation: there God speaks to Job rather than Job answering God; both verses mark a turn in the dialogue between deity and human.
- Genesis 18:27 (verbal): Uses the same conventional narrative formula ('and Abraham answered and said') — another instance of a human replying directly to God's speech.
- Exodus 3:11 (thematic): Moses answers God's call with a question about his adequacy — another human response to divine address, highlighting human limitation before God.
- Isaiah 6:8 (thematic): Isaiah's reply 'Here am I; send me' models a direct human response to God's speech in prophetic literature, analogous to Job's answering the LORD.
Alternative generated candidates
- Then Job answered the LORD and said,
- Then Job answered the LORD and said,
Job.40.4 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- הן: PART
- קלתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,?,sg
- מה: PRON,int
- אשיבך: VERB,qal,impf,1,_,sg
- ידי: NOUN,f,pl,cons
- שמתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,_,sg
- למו: PREP+PRON,3,m,pl
- פי: NOUN,m,sg,construct
Parallels
- Job 40:5 (verbal): Immediate continuation — Job declares he will not answer further and places his hand over his mouth, repeating the gesture of silence in response to God's speech.
- Job 42:6 (thematic): Job's final confession of humility and repentance ('I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes') echoes the self-abasement and recognition of unworthiness expressed by placing a hand over the mouth.
- Psalm 39:9 (verbal): The psalmist says 'I am mute, I do not open my mouth,' reflecting the same motif of silence before God's hand and inscrutable providence.
- Isaiah 6:5 (thematic): Isaiah's cry 'Woe is me... I am a man of unclean lips' parallels Job's gesture of covering his mouth as an expression of personal unworthiness and awe in God's presence.
Alternative generated candidates
- Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth.
- Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth.
Job.40.5 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אחת: NUM,f,sg
- דברתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,c,sg
- ולא: CONJ
- אענה: VERB,qal,impf,1,_,sg
- ושתים: NUM,f,pl,abs
- ולא: CONJ
- אוסיף: VERB,qal,impf,1,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 38:1-4 (structural): Like 40:5, these verses begin God's theophany with a series of rhetorical challenges to Job—setting the same pattern of divine rebuke and questioning the right of Job to answer God.
- Job 40:3-4 (verbal): Immediate verbal parallel: Job declares he will put his hand over his mouth and not answer—mirroring the theme of withholding speech found in 40:5 (one spoken, no further answer).
- Job 42:1-6 (thematic): Job's final reply and confession of ignorance and repentance echo the outcome implied in 40:5, where God curtails further debate and Job is led to submit and acknowledge God's sovereignty.
- Romans 9:20 (thematic): Paul's rhetorical rebuke ('Who are you, O man, who answers back to God?') parallels the theme of human presumption in answering God and the futility of disputing divine sovereignty found in Job 40:5.
Alternative generated candidates
- Once I have spoken, but I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further.
- Once I have spoken, but I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further.
Job.40.6 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ויען: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- יהוה: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- את: PRT,acc
- איוב: NOUN,prop,m,sg,abs
- מן: PREP
- סערה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ויאמר: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 38:1 (verbal): Nearly identical opening formula — “Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind…” — marking the start of God’s speeches and repeating the same theophanic address.
- Psalm 29:3-9 (thematic): Describes the voice of the LORD in thunder and over the waters, using storm imagery to portray God’s powerful, spoken presence similar to a divine address from a whirlwind.
- Psalm 18:7-15 (thematic): A theophany in storm language (earthquake, smoke, thick darkness, consuming fire) in which God’s mighty appearance and voice are depicted like a tempestuous divine revelation.
- 1 Kings 19:11-13 (allusion): Elijah’s theophany includes a great wind, earthquake and fire but God’s voice comes in a ‘still small voice,’ contrasting other storm-based divine revelations such as God’s speech from the whirlwind in Job.
Alternative generated candidates
- Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,
- Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said,
Job.40.7 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אזר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- נא: PART
- כגבר: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- חלציך: NOUN,m,pl,abs+2ms
- אשאלך: VERB,qal,imprf,1,sg,obj:2ms
- והודיעני: VERB,hiph,perf,3,m,sg,obj:1sg
Parallels
- Job 38:3 (verbal): Almost identical divine command earlier in the book: 'Gird up now thy loins like a man; I will demand of thee...' — a direct repetition of wording and address to Job.
- Jeremiah 1:17 (verbal): Prophetic commissioning uses the same idiom ('gird up thy loins') as a call to readiness and boldness in speaking God's word.
- Luke 12:35 (allusion): NT use of the loins-girding idiom ('Let your loins be girded about') to signify preparedness and vigilance — echoes the OT formula for readiness.
- 1 Peter 1:13 (allusion): Explicitly adapts the 'gird up your loins' image to the mind ('gird up the loins of your mind'), spiritualizing the OT call to prepare oneself for divine demand.
Alternative generated candidates
- Gird up your loins now like a man; I will demand of you, and you declare to me.
- Gird up your loins now like a man; I will ask you, and you make me know.
Job.40.8 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- האף: PART
- תפר: VERB,qal,impf,2,ms
- משפטי: NOUN,m,sg,abs,1cs
- תרשיעני: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- למען: PREP
- תצדק: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Psalm 143:2 (thematic): Both plead against entering judgment with God, acknowledging that no one can be declared righteous in God's sight—appeals about divine judgment and human justification.
- Proverbs 17:15 (thematic): Condemns perverting justice—'justifying the wicked and condemning the righteous'—echoes Job's charge about being wrongfully condemned to make God appear righteous.
- Job 13:18-19 (structural): Within Job's speeches: he summons witness and insists on his integrity, challenging God’s judgment in courtroom language similar to 40:8's demand about justice.
- Romans 3:4-5 (verbal): Paul wrestles with the idea that divine judgment might serve to justify God ('that you might be justified'), paralleling Job's sarcasm that God would condemn him so as to be righteous.
- Job 9:20-21 (thematic): Job reflects on the impossibility of self-justification and the problem of being condemned, thematically related to his protest in 40:8 against being judged to demonstrate God's righteousness.
Alternative generated candidates
- Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be justified?
- Will you even put me in the wrong that you may be justified? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right?
Job.40.9 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ואם: CONJ
- זרוע: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- כאל: PREP+PN,m,sg,abs
- לך: PRON,2,m,sg
- ובקול: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- כמהו: PRT+PRON,3,ms
- תרעם: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 38:1–7 (structural): Same divine courtroom speech: God questions Job about his ability to govern creation, framing a series of rhetorical challenges that parallel the taunting question about possessing an arm or thundering voice like God.
- Psalm 29:3–9 (verbal): Imagery of the LORD's voice thundering over the waters and breaking cedars echoes the specific reference to God’s thunderous voice in Job 40:9.
- Isaiah 40:12–14 (thematic): Emphasizes the immeasurable power and wisdom of God compared with human insufficiency—theme of divine strength (arm) versus human inability found in Job 40:9.
- Jeremiah 10:12–13 (thematic): Describes God’s creative power and the effects when He utters his voice (storms, thunder), paralleling the association of God’s voice with cosmic power in Job 40:9.
Alternative generated candidates
- Will you have an arm like God, and thunder with a voice like his?
- Have you an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his?
Job.40.10 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- עדה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- נא: PART
- גאון: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- וגבה: CONJ+VERB,qal,imf,3,m,sg
- והוד: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- והדר: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- תלבש: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Psalm 104:1 (verbal): Uses the same clothing imagery—God (or one) is 'clothed with honour and majesty,' paralleling 'put on glory and majesty.'
- Psalm 93:1 (verbal): Declares the LORD 'is clothed with majesty,' echoing the motif of being robed in splendour.
- Isaiah 52:1 (verbal): Exhorts Zion to 'put on thy beautiful garments,' closely matching the command to don glory and splendour.
- Isaiah 61:10 (thematic): Speaks of being clothed with garments of salvation/joy—a theological parallel to being arrayed in glory and honour.
- Ezekiel 16:10 (thematic): God's action of clothing Jerusalem with fine garments and adornment parallels the theme of bestowing or assuming splendour and majesty.
Alternative generated candidates
- Adorn yourself with majesty and magnificence; clothe yourself with glory and splendor.
- Dress yourself with glory and majesty; clothe yourself with dignity and splendor.
Job.40.11 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- הפץ: VERB,hiph,imp,2,ms
- עברות: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- אפך: NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,2,m,sg
- וראה: VERB,qal,imp,2,m,sg
- כל: DET
- גאה: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- והשפילהו: CONJ+VERB,hiph,imp,2,ms+3,ms
Parallels
- Proverbs 16:18 (thematic): States that pride leads to destruction—echoes Job 40:11's imperative to abase the proud and the connection between pride and downfall.
- James 4:6 (thematic): Affirms that God resists the proud and gives grace to the humble, paralleling the theme of humbling the proud in Job 40:11.
- 1 Peter 5:5-6 (thematic): Calls for humility because God opposes the proud but exalts the humble—matches Job's call to 'abase' the proud.
- Psalm 18:27 (verbal): Speaks of God bringing down the haughty and saving the humble, using similar language of God humbling the proud.
- Isaiah 2:12-17 (thematic): Describes the Lord humbling the proud and making lofty things low—a prophetic parallel to the divine abasing of the proud in Job 40:11.
Alternative generated candidates
- Pour out the overflowings of your anger; look on everyone who is proud and abase him.
- Pour out the overflowings of your anger; look on every proud man and abase him.
Job.40.12 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ראה: VERB,qal,imperat,2,m,sg
- כל: DET
- גאה: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- הכניעהו: VERB,hifil,imp,2,m,sg
- והדך: VERB,qal,imp,2,m,sg
- רשעים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- תחתם: PREP+PRON,3,m,pl
Parallels
- Psalm 75:5-7 (thematic): Speaks of God bringing down the proud and putting them to shame—parallel theme of God humbling the arrogant.
- Isaiah 2:11-12 (thematic): Foretells the humbling of human pride and loftiness before the LORD, echoing Job’s motif of overthrowing the proud.
- Luke 1:51 (verbal): Mary’s Magnificat: “He has put down the mighty from their thrones,” a close verbal and thematic echo of humbling the proud and overthrowing the powerful.
- James 4:6 (thematic): “God resists the proud but gives grace to the humble,” reflecting the same divine action against pride that Job 40:12 describes.
- Psalm 37:12-15 (thematic): Describes the plots of the wicked and their eventual removal or being cut off—parallels the image of trampling or subduing the wicked.
Alternative generated candidates
- Look on everyone who is proud; bring them low; tread down the wicked in their place.
- Look on every proud man and bring him low; tread down the wicked where they stand.
Job.40.13 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- טמנם: VERB,qal,impv,2,m,pl
- בעפר: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יחד: ADV
- פניהם: NOUN,m,pl,abs+PRON,3,m,pl
- חבש: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- בטמון: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Psalm 104:29 (verbal): Speaks of God hiding his face, causing death and the return of the dead to dust—parallels the imagery of covering/hiding and burial in the dust.
- Genesis 3:19 (thematic): The foundational declaration that humans are from dust and return to dust echoes the verse's burial/return-to-earth theme.
- Ecclesiastes 12:7 (structural): Describes the dust returning to the earth at death, reinforcing the image of burial and concealment in the ground.
- Job 34:15 (verbal): Within the same book, this verse states that all flesh will perish and man will turn again to dust, a direct thematic and verbal parallel to Job 40:13.
Alternative generated candidates
- Hide them together in the dust; bind their faces in the grave.
- Hide them all in the dust together; bind their faces in the hidden place.
Job.40.14 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- וגם: CONJ
- אני: PRON,1,sg
- אודך: VERB,qal,impf,1,sg
- כי: CONJ
- תושע: VERB,qal,impf,3,f,sg
- לך: PRON,2,m,sg
- ימינך: NOUN,f,sg,abs+PRON,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Psalm 118:21 (verbal): Declares praise/thanks to God because he has answered and become salvation—closely parallels praising God for deliverance.
- Psalm 30:11-12 (thematic): Expresses a vow to praise God after he turns mourning into joy—same motif of personal praise in response to rescue.
- Isaiah 12:1-2 (thematic): I will praise you, O LORD, for you have done great things/been my salvation—an explicit thanksgiving-for-deliverance theme.
- Exodus 15:1-2 (structural): The song of Moses and Israel praising Yahweh after deliverance at the Red Sea; parallels the liturgical/song response to salvation.
- Jonah 2:9 (allusion): Jonah’s vow to offer thanksgiving and his declaration that salvation is from the LORD echo the motive and language of praising God for rescue.
Alternative generated candidates
- Then I will also acknowledge to you that your own right hand can save you.
- Then I will also confess to you that your own right hand can save you.
Job.40.15 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- הנה: PART
- נא: PART
- בהמות: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- אשר: PRON,rel
- עשיתי: VERB,qal,perf,1,_,sg
- עמך: NOUN,m,sg,suff-2m
- חציר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- כבקר: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יאכל: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Genesis 1:24-25 (thematic): Both texts describe God’s creation of land animals—Job’s announcement that God made the behemoth echoes the Genesis account of God making beasts of the earth.
- Psalm 104:14-15 (verbal): Psalm speaks of God causing grass to grow for cattle and providing food—paralleling Job’s image of the behemoth eating grass like an ox and God’s provision for animals.
- Psalm 145:15-16 (thematic): Both affirm God’s care in supplying food to all living creatures; Job’s depiction of the behemoth as a God‑made grazer fits the psalm’s theme of God feeding ‘all their desires.’
- Psalm 8:6-8 (allusion): Psalm 8 surveys human relation to the beasts and God’s ordering of creatures; Job’s remark that he made the behemoth (and by implication man) touches the same theme of God’s sovereign arrangement of humans and animals.
- Job 41:1-34 (structural): The Leviathan passage immediately follows and complements 40:15: both chapters present extraordinary creatures (behemoth and leviathan) as examples of God’s creative power and the limits of human dominion.
Alternative generated candidates
- Behold, Behemoth, which I made as I made you; he eats grass like an ox.
- Behold now Behemoth, which I made as I made you; he eats grass like an ox.
Job.40.16 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- הנה: PART
- נא: PART
- כחו: NOUN,m,sg,abs+SUFF:3,m,sg
- במתניו: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,poss:3,m,abs
- ואנו: CONJ+PRON,1,pl
- בשרירי: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- בטנו: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs+PRON,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 40:17 (verbal): Direct continuation of the Behemoth description (tail, bones), expanding the depiction of its physical strength noted in 40:16.
- Job 41:1-11 (thematic): Description of Leviathan as a powerful, untamable creature—parallels the motif of primeval monsters whose formidable bodily strength emphasizes God’s sovereignty over chaos.
- Psalm 74:13-14 (allusion): Speaks of God dividing the sea and crushing the heads of Leviathan, echoing the theme of divine mastery over mighty, chaotic creatures similar to Behemoth’s portrayal.
- Isaiah 27:1 (thematic): Prophetic image of Yahweh punishing Leviathan the fleeing serpent—another instance of the biblical motif of subduing great, fearsome creatures that parallels the Behemoth’s strength-focused description.
Alternative generated candidates
- Behold, his strength in his loins and his power in the muscles of his belly.
- Behold his strength in his loins and his power in the muscles of his belly.
Job.40.17 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- יחפץ: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- זנבו: NOUN,m,sg,abs+suff3ms
- כמו: PREP
- ארז: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- גידי: NOUN,m,pl,const
- פחדיו: NOUN,m,pl,abs+suff3ms
- ישרגו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
Parallels
- Job 40:15 (structural): Immediate context introducing the Behemoth—this verse begins the description that culminates in the tail/cedar simile and locates v.17 within the larger speech about the great land-animal.
- Job 40:16 (structural): The preceding line in the same unit ('he eats grass like an ox')—closely linked verbally and thematically to v.17 as part of the composite portrait of Behemoth’s anatomy and behavior.
- Job 41:1-34 (thematic): The parallel monster-poem about Leviathan; together with Behemoth these passages form a paired theme of primeval/cosmic creatures that display God’s power over creation.
- Psalm 104:26 (allusion): Speaks of Leviathan as a great creature in God’s providential order of creation—parallels Job’s use of a giant animal image to explore God’s sovereignty over powerful beasts.
- Ezekiel 31:3 (verbal): Uses cedar-of-Lebanon imagery to signify size and majesty; parallels the simile 'tail like a cedar' in Job 40:17 that employs cedar imagery to convey impressive scale.
Alternative generated candidates
- His tail sways like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are knit together.
- He makes his tail stiff like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are knit together.
Job.40.18 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- עצמיו: NOUN,m,pl,abs+PRON,3,m,sg
- אפיקי: NOUN,m,pl,cons
- נחושה: ADJ,f,sg
- גרמיו: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- כמטיל: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ברזל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Job 40:15 (structural): Immediate context: verse 15 introduces Behemoth (the creature whose bones are described in v.18), so v.18 forms part of the same descriptive unit portraying its massive, metal-like strength.
- Job 41:24 (thematic): Description of Leviathan's invulnerability—'his heart is as firm as a stone'—parallels the theme of monstrous bodily hardness and impenetrability expressed by Behemoth's 'bones of bronze' and 'limbs like bars of iron.'
- Psalm 74:13-14 (thematic): Psalmic imagery of God subduing and breaking the heads of sea monsters echoes the Bible's motif of colossal, armored creatures (like Behemoth/Leviathan) and emphasizes their formidable, almost metal-like nature before divine power.
- Psalm 104:26 (thematic): Mentions Leviathan among God's creatures of the sea; thematically linked as part of the biblical corpus that portrays great, awe-inspiring creatures whose bodies and strength set them apart from ordinary animals.
- Isaiah 27:1 (thematic): The oracle against Leviathan, the fleeing serpent, resonates with the motif of primeval/monstrous beings characterized by formidable, quasi-armored bodies—paralleling the depiction of Behemoth's bronze-like bones and iron-like limbs.
Alternative generated candidates
- His bones are tubes of bronze, his limbs like bars of iron.
- His bones are tubes of bronze, his limbs like bars of iron.
Job.40.19 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- הוא: PRON,3,m,sg
- ראשית: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- דרכי: NOUN,f,sg,abs+PRON,1,_,sg
- אל: NEG
- העשו: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- יגש: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- חרבו: NOUN,f,sg,abs+PRON,3,m
Parallels
- Job 40:15-24 (structural): Immediate context: part of YHWH’s description of the Behemoth — same speech and literary unit explaining the creature’s strength and God’s role as its maker and ruler.
- Job 41:1-34 (structural): The following chapter treats Leviathan with similar language and rhetorical questions about who can approach or subdue the monster, reinforcing the theme of human inability to conquer God’s powerful creatures.
- Psalm 104:26 (thematic): Speaks of Leviathan as a creature God made and controls (‘whom you formed to play therein’), echoing the motif of God’s sovereignty over great sea/land beasts.
- Psalm 74:14 (thematic): Describes God crushing the heads of Leviathan and subduing chaotic monsters, paralleling the portrayal of divine power over monstrous forces that humans cannot master.
- Isaiah 27:1 (allusion): Uses the image of the Lord punishing Leviathan (the fleeing serpent) with a severe sword — a prophetic usage of the chaos-monster motif that parallels Job’s rhetoric about who can confront such beings.
Alternative generated candidates
- He is the first of the ways of God; let his Maker bring near his sword.
- He is the first of the ways of God; only the One who made him can draw near to him with his sword.
Job.40.20 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- כי: CONJ
- בול: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- הרים: NOUN,m,pl,cons
- ישאו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- לו: PRON,3,m,sg
- וכל: CONJ+PRON,indef
- חית: NOUN,f,sg,cs
- השדה: NOUN,m,sg,def
- ישחקו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- שם: ADV
Parallels
- Job 39:1 (verbal): Addresses the wild/goat of the rock and its cliff-dwelling habits—directly parallels the imagery of mountain cliffs as the animal’s bed/refuge.
- Proverbs 30:26 (verbal): Speaks of the conies (rock-dwellers) who make their houses in the rocks—verbal and situational parallel about animals sheltering in rocky places.
- Psalm 104:18 (thematic): Describes high hills and rocks as refuge for wild goats and conies—similar creation imagery of beasts finding rest and play in mountainous/rocky habitats.
- Job 12:7–10 (thematic): Invites attention to animals as witnesses to God’s provision and ordering of habitats—echoes the theme of beasts occupying the places God appointed (resting/playing there).
Alternative generated candidates
- For the mountains yield food for him, and all the beasts of the field play there.
- The mountains yield food for him, and all the beasts of the field play there.
Job.40.21 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- תחת: PREP
- צאלים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ישכב: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- בסתר: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- קנה: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- ובצה: CONJ+NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Exodus 2:3 (verbal): Both verses use the image of reeds (קנה) at the water’s edge as a place where a living being is laid or lies down—Moses’ basket among the reeds and Behemoth sheltering in the reeds.
- Job 41:1-2 (structural): Job 40–41 pairs Behemoth (land monster) and Leviathan (sea monster). The description of Behemoth’s marshy, plant‑covered lair parallels the complementary portrayal of Leviathan’s watery realm, forming a deliberate structural contrast.
- Psalm 104:10-22 (thematic): Psalm 104 depicts God providing springs, plants and habitats for wild animals and marsh‑dwelling creatures—similar thematic imagery of animals living and resting among waters, reeds and vegetation.
- Psalm 23:2 (thematic): The image of lying down in a shady/green place beside water echoes Job’s depiction of the great beast reclining under plants and in the covert of reeds—both convey rest and shelter provided by vegetation and water.
Alternative generated candidates
- He lies under the lotus trees, in the coverts of the reeds and in the marsh.
- He lies under the lotus trees, in the covert of the reeds and marsh.
Job.40.22 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- יסכהו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- צאלים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- צללו: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- יסבוהו: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- ערבי: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- נחל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Job 40:21 (verbal): Immediate context: verse 21 places the creature 'under the shady trees' and in the reeds and marshes—verse 22 repeats and develops the same imagery of shade and willows by a stream.
- Job 40:23 (structural): Continues the scene of aquatic surroundings: the river/stream (Jordan imagery) may rage yet the creature remains undisturbed—parallels the protection and habitat motif of verse 22.
- Psalm 104:16-18 (thematic): Psalm 104 portrays trees, cedars and watery places as habitats and refuges for birds and beasts—parallel use of vegetation and water to describe where large creatures dwell and find shelter.
- Psalm 1:3 (thematic): The image of a tree planted by rivers, flourishing because of steady water, echoes the motif of life and security provided by rivers and streamside trees implied in Job 40:22.
- Jeremiah 17:8 (thematic): Jeremiah's simile of a tree by water that is not anxious in drought resonates with the stable, sheltered existence of the creature under shady trees and beside the brook in Job 40:22.
Alternative generated candidates
- The lotus trees cover him with their shade; the willows of the brook surround him.
- The lotus trees cover him with shade; the willows of the brook surround him.
Job.40.23 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- הן: PART
- יעשק: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- נהר: NOUN,m,sg,cons
- לא: PART_NEG
- יחפוז: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- יבטח: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- כי: CONJ
- יגיח: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- ירדן: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- אל: NEG
- פיהו: NOUN,m,sg,pr3ms
Parallels
- Job 41:18-21 (structural): Continues the same description of the monstrous creature (Leviathan) and its interaction with the waters—similar motifs of overwhelming rivers and the beast's strength.
- Psalm 74:13-14 (thematic): Speaks of God dividing the sea and breaking the heads of sea-monsters (Leviathan/dragons), linking divine mastery over chaotic waters and monstrous creatures to the image of rivers swallowed or subdued.
- Isaiah 27:1 (thematic): Prophesies the punishment of Leviathan, the fleeing serpent—uses the same sea‑monster motif to portray control over chaotic, river/sea‑dwelling beasts.
- Psalm 104:6-9 (thematic): Describes God’s control of the waters—rebuking them so they flee and find their bounds—paralleling motifs of rivers being checked or swallowed up in relation to divine/primeval chaos creatures.
Alternative generated candidates
- Behold, if the river is roused, he is not alarmed; he is confident though Jordan rush against his mouth.
- Behold, he is unbothered though a flood rages; he trusts though the Jordan rushes to his mouth.
Job.40.24 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- בעיניו: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs+3ms
- יקחנו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- במוקשים: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ינקב: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- אף: ADV
Parallels
- Job 41:1-34 (structural): Immediate continuation/parallel in the same divine speeches—extended description of Leviathan as an untamable, dangerous monster using similar imagery of hooks, snares, eyes and invulnerability.
- Psalm 104:26 (verbal): Speaks of Leviathan (or great sea-creature) whom God made to play in the sea; parallels the motif of God’s sovereignty over enormous, fearsome creatures mentioned in Job.
- Isaiah 27:1 (thematic): Portrays the LORD’s defeat of Leviathan/the twisting serpent—an OT theme of God subduing chaotic sea-monsters that echoes Job’s depiction of such primeval creatures.
- Psalm 74:13-14 (thematic): Describes God dividing the sea and crushing the heads of sea-monsters, delivering them to the creatures of the desert—parallels the theme of divine power over monstrous beasts.
- Genesis 1:21 (thematic): Affirms God’s creation of 'great sea creatures' (tannîn/leviathan-language background); parallels the motif that such monsters are part of God’s ordered creation addressed in Job.
Alternative generated candidates
- Can one take him with hooks, or pierce his nose with a snare?
- Can one take him with hooks, or pierce his nose with a snare?
Job.40.25 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- תמשך: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- לויתן: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- בחכה: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ובחבל: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- תשקיע: VERB,hiphil,impf,2,m,sg
- לשנו: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,3,m,pl
Parallels
- Job 41:1 (verbal): Direct parallel in English numbering — the same rhetorical question about drawing Leviathan with a hook (same motif of human inability to seize the creature).
- Psalm 74:13-14 (thematic): Describes God’s subduing/defeating of Leviathan (breaking its heads), contrasting divine mastery over the sea-monster with human inability to capture it by hook or rope.
- Isaiah 27:1 (allusion): Prophetic oracle of Yahweh punishing Leviathan, the twisting serpent of the sea — a related motif of God’s dominion over chaotic sea monsters referenced in Job’s taunt about human failure to control Leviathan.
- Psalm 104:26 (thematic): Speaks of Leviathan as a large sea-creature formed by God that plays in the sea — emphasizes the creature’s wild, unmanageable nature and God’s sovereignty over it, echoing Job’s point about human impotence.
- Jonah 1:17 (thematic): The account of Jonah being swallowed by a great fish/sea-creature resonates thematically with ancient imagery of humans encountering uncontrollable sea monsters, underscoring the motif of human vulnerability before such creatures.
Alternative generated candidates
- Will you play with Leviathan like a fish? Will you put a cord in his nose?
- Will you draw Leviathan with a hook, or will you put a rope into his nose?
Job.40.26 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- התשים: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- אגמון: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- באפו: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs+pr:3,m
- ובחוח: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- תקוב: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
- לחיו: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs+3,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 41:1-2 (verbal): Nearly identical imagery of restraining a monstrous creature—asking whether one can 'put a rope in his nose' or 'pierce his jaw with a hook' (direct parallel within Job's Leviathan description).
- James 3:3-4 (thematic): Uses the same control-by-bit/bridle metaphor—putting a bit in a horse's mouth to guide its body—parallel theme of human/ divine mastery over powerful creatures' mouths.
- Isaiah 27:1 (allusion): Speaks of God punishing or subduing Leviathan/the fleeing serpent—the broader theme of divine control over chaotic, monstrous creatures that Job 40–41 addresses.
- Psalm 74:13-14 (thematic): Describes God dividing the sea and crushing the heads of Leviathan, portraying God's sovereignty over sea-monsters and chaos, thematically echoing Job's depiction of God’s power over great beasts.
Alternative generated candidates
- Will you fasten a ring in his nose, or pierce his jaw with a hook?
- Will you put a thorn in his nose, or bore his jaw with a hook?
Job.40.27 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- הירבה: VERB,hifil,perf,3,m,sg
- אליך: PREP+PRON,2,m,sg
- תחנונים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- אם: CONJ
- ידבר: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- אליך: PREP+PRON,2,m,sg
- רכות: ADJ,f,pl,abs
Parallels
- Job 40:7 (structural): Same divine challenge within the same speech: God summons Job to answer Him ('answer thou me'), establishing the demand for a reply found in 40:27.
- Job 38:3 (verbal): Earlier pronouncement with nearly identical wording ('I will demand of thee, and answer thou me'/'answer me'), framing God's challenge to Job to speak in the face of divine questions.
- Isaiah 30:10 (verbal): Speaks of people asking prophets to 'speak smooth/soft things'—parallels the language of 'speaking soft words' and contrasts comforting speech with hard truth.
- Proverbs 15:1 (thematic): Contrasts gentle/soft speech with its effects; thematically relates to the notion of 'soft words' and the moral/communicative implications of how one speaks.
Alternative generated candidates
- Will he make many supplications to you, or speak softly to you?
- Will he make many pleas to you? Will he speak soft words to you?
Job.40.28 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- היכרת: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ברית: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- עמך: NOUN,m,sg,suff-2m
- תקחנו: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,pl
- לעבד: VERB,qal,inf
- עולם: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Isaiah 49:8 (verbal): Uses the language of being given 'as a covenant to the people' (לִהְיוֹת לְבְרִית לָעָם), closely paralleling the idea of a covenant established for/with the people.
- Isaiah 42:1 (thematic): Introduces the 'servant' motif ('my servant' / עַבְדִּי), connecting the role of a chosen one who carries the covenant-purpose on behalf of the people.
- Genesis 17:7 (thematic): God's promise of an 'everlasting covenant' with Abraham and his descendants (בְּרִית עולם), resonating with the combined themes of covenant and perpetuity in the verse.
- Psalm 105:8 (verbal): Declares that God 'remembers his covenant forever' (זָכַר לְעוֹלָם בְּרִיתוֹ), echoing the motif of an enduring divine covenant.
- Ezekiel 37:26 (thematic): God's promise to 'make a covenant of peace' with Israel and to make it 'an everlasting covenant' (בְּרִית עוֹלָם), linking covenant, restoration, and permanence.
Alternative generated candidates
- Will he make a covenant with you to be your servant forever?
- Will he make a covenant with you to be taken as a servant forever?
Job.40.29 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- התשחק: VERB,hitp,perf,3,m,sg
- בו: PREP+PRON,3,m,sg
- כצפור: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ותקשרנו: CONJ+VERB,qal,impf,3,f,sg,PRONOBJ,1,pl
- לנערותיך: PREP+NOUN,f,pl,abs,PRON,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 41:5–7 (verbal): Same Leviathan passage in the Masoretic/English numbering: the rhetorical questions 'Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? Wilt thou bind him for thy maidens?' are the immediate parallel (same verbal imagery).
- Psalm 104:26 (verbal): Uses the verb 'play' of God/sea-creatures ('there is Leviathan, which thou hast made to play therein'), echoing the imagery of treating a great sea-monster like a playful bird.
- Psalm 74:13–14 (allusion): Describes God's subduing of sea-monsters (Leviathan) — breaking its heads and giving it as food — thematically paralleling the impossibility of humans binding or taming such a creature.
- Isaiah 27:1 (allusion): Portrays Leviathan/Rahab as a chaotic sea-serpent whom the LORD will punish and subdue, echoing the motif of God (not humans) overcoming the great sea-monster.
- Psalm 89:10 (thematic): Speaks of God crushing 'Rahab' (a mythic sea foe) and scattering enemies, thematically related to the biblical motif that such primeval monsters are beyond human control and are defeated by God alone.
Alternative generated candidates
- Will you play with him as with a bird, or bind him for your girls?
- Will you play with him as with a bird, and will you bind him for your maidens?
Job.40.30 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- יכרו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- עליו: PREP,3,m,sg
- חברים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- יחצוהו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- בין: PREP
- כנענים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
Parallels
- Psalm 41:9 (thematic): A close companion betrays and turns against the sufferer — theme of a trusted friend delivering one over to enemies, analogous to Job’s sense of being abandoned/handed over.
- Psalm 55:12-14 (thematic): Lament over betrayal by an intimate companion and ally; echoes the pain of being betrayed by those once close and exposed to one’s foes.
- Matthew 26:47-50 (thematic): Judas, a close follower, betrays Jesus and leads armed men to seize him — a New Testament parallel of being handed over to enemies by a trusted associate.
- Genesis 37:27-28 (thematic): Joseph is delivered by his brothers to foreign traders (sold to Midianites/Ishmaelites) — motif of being given over to outsiders/foreigners by others, similar to being surrendered among ‘Canaanites.’
Alternative generated candidates
- Shall traders bargain over him? Will they divide him among the merchants?
- Will traders bargain over him, will they divide him among merchants?
Job.40.31 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- התמלא: VERB,hithpael,perf,3,m,sg
- בשכות: PREP+NOUN,f,pl,abs
- עורו: NOUN,m,sg,abs+3ms
- ובצלצל: CONJ+PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- דגים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- ראשו: NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Psalm 104:26 (thematic): Both passages treat Leviathan/the sea-monster as a creature of the deep fashioned by God; Job’s detailed description of its skin and head fits the same tradition of a divinely‑ordered sea monster seen in Psalm 104.
- Psalm 74:14 (thematic): Psalm 74 depicts God’s subduing of Leviathan (breaking its heads); thematically this echoes Job’s vivid physiognomy of the monster and the larger motif of God’s authority over chaotic sea‑beasts.
- Isaiah 27:1 (allusion): Isaiah prophesies the Lord’s punishment of Leviathan, the fleeing serpent — a later prophetic reworking of the Leviathan motif that parallels Job’s anatomical and hostile portrayal of the creature.
- Job 41:15 (verbal): An internal parallel within the Leviathan description (same chapter) — other verses in Job 41 similarly emphasize its scales/shields and sealed rows, showing close verbal and conceptual continuity with Job 40:31’s depiction.
Alternative generated candidates
- Can you fill his skin with barbs, or his head with fish-spears?
- Can you fill his skin with harpoons, or his head with fishing spears?
Job.40.32 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- שים: VERB,qal,impv,2,m,sg
- עליו: PREP,3,m,sg
- כפך: NOUN,f,sg+PRON,2,m,sg
- זכר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- מלחמה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- אל: NEG
- תוסף: VERB,qal,impf,2,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 41:1 (structural): Immediate continuation in the same speech: a direct challenge about subduing Leviathan/monstrous creature—same context of attempting to lay hands on a powerful beast.
- Psalm 74:14 (thematic): Speaks of God crushing the heads of Leviathan and giving him as food—shared motif of divine control/defeat of chaotic sea-monsters.
- Isaiah 27:1 (thematic): Prophetic image of the Lord punishing Leviathan the fleeing serpent—parallels the theme of a battle against a primeval monster.
- Psalm 104:26 (thematic): Describes Leviathan as a creature made by God that plays in the sea—relates to the portrayal of monstrous creatures as God’s creatures under divine authority.
Alternative generated candidates
- Lay your hand on him; remember the battle—never do it again.
- Lay your hand on him; remember the battle—never do it again!
Job.41.1 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- הן: PART
- תחלתו: NOUN,f,sg,abs,poss,3,ms
- נכזבה: VERB,nip,ptc,3,f,sg
- הגם: CONJ
- אל: NEG
- מראיו: NOUN,m,sg,abs,poss,3,ms
- יטל: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Psalm 104:26 (thematic): Both passages speak of the great sea-creature (Leviathan/tannin) as part of God’s creation and domain over the sea, linking Job’s description of an awesome sea-monster to the Psalm’s portrayal of God’s sovereign ordering of sea creatures.
- Isaiah 27:1 (allusion): Isaiah depicts Yahweh punishing Leviathan, the twisting serpent—using the same mythic monster imagery as Job 41 to express divine mastery over a chaotic sea-monster.
- Psalm 74:14 (verbal): The Psalm describes God crushing the heads of Leviathan and giving it to the beasts, echoing the motif in Job of human inability and the divine subduing of the primeval sea-monster.
- Genesis 1:21 (thematic): Genesis’s creation of the 'great sea creatures' (tanninim) provides a background framework for Job’s depiction of Leviathan as a primordial, powerful sea-being within God’s created order.
Alternative generated candidates
- Is his hope to be put to shame? Will one be cast down at his presence?
- Behold, the hope of a man is false; at his sight he is laid low.
Job.41.2 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- לא: PART_NEG
- אכזר: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- כי: CONJ
- יעורנו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- ומי: PRON,interr
- הוא: PRON,3,m,sg
- לפני: PREP
- יתיצב: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Psalm 74:13-14 (thematic): Describes God dividing the sea and crushing the heads of Leviathan—shares the motif of God’s victory over the chaos-monster and similar imagery to Job’s depiction of Leviathan.
- Psalm 104:26 (thematic): Refers to Leviathan as a creature made by God to play in the sea, underscoring divine sovereignty over sea monsters as in Job 41.
- Isaiah 27:1 (allusion): Speaks of the Lord punishing Leviathan, the fleeing serpent; echoes the tradition of YHWH’s control and subjugation of the chaos-serpent found in Job 41.
- Psalm 89:10 (thematic): Declares that God crushed Rahab (a mythic sea foe), using sea-monster imagery to celebrate divine power—parallels the theme of God’s mastery over monstrous forces.
- Job 40:15-24 (structural): The description of Behemoth (immediately preceding Leviathan) forms a structural pair with Job 41’s Leviathan passage; both serve to demonstrate God’s sovereign power in creation.
Alternative generated candidates
- Who can make him afraid and prevail? Who stands before me?
- None is so fierce that he dares to stir him up; who then is he that can stand before me?
Job.41.3 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- מי: PRON,interr,sg
- הקדימני: VERB,hiph,perf,3,m,sg
- ואשלם: VERB,qal,impf,1,_,sg
- תחת: PREP
- כל: DET
- השמים: NOUN,m,pl,def
- לי: PREP+PRON,1,sg
- הוא: PRON,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Psalm 50:10-12 (verbal): God declares that every beast and the world belong to him—language close to “under the whole heavens is mine,” stressing divine ownership of creation.
- Psalm 24:1 (thematic): “The earth is the LORD’s, and the fulness thereof” — a succinct statement of the same theme of God’s sovereignty and possession of all things.
- Job 38:4-11 (structural): Part of God’s speech of rhetorical questions about creation; parallels the confrontational tone and divine claim to precedence and control over the cosmos.
- Romans 11:33-36 (thematic): Paul’s doxology poses rhetorical questions about God’s wisdom and concludes that all things are from, through, and to God—echoing the idea that everything belongs to God.
Alternative generated candidates
- Who has preceded me that I should repay him? Whatever is under the heavens is mine.
- Who has preceded me that I should repay him? Whatever is under the heavens is mine.
Job.41.4 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- לו: PRON,3,m,sg
- אחריש: VERB,qal,impf,1,?,sg
- בדיו: NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON:3ms
- ודבר: VERB,qal,fut,3,m,sg
- גבורות: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- וחין: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ערכו: NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Psalm 74:14 (allusion): Speaks of God breaking the heads of Leviathan and giving it as food—an allusion to the same mythic sea‑monster and to divine mastery over chaotic beasts found in Job 41.
- Psalm 104:26 (verbal): Uses the name Leviathan and pictures it as a creature God made to play in the sea; echoes Job 41’s focus on Leviathan’s identity and its relation to the Creator.
- Isaiah 27:1 (allusion): Prophecies God’s punishment of Leviathan, the fleeing/twisting serpent of the sea—parallels Job’s imagery of a monstrous sea‑creature subdued by the Lord.
- Genesis 1:21 (thematic): Records God’s creation of “great sea creatures,” providing a thematic background for passages like Job 41 that present Leviathan as part of God’s ordered creation and display of power.
Alternative generated candidates
- I will not be silent concerning his limbs, his mighty strength, and his graceful proportions.
- I will not be silent concerning his parts, or his strength, or the comely proportion of him.
Job.41.5 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- מי: PRON,interr,sg
- גלה: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- פני: NOUN,m,sg,cons
- לבושו: NOUN,m,sg,abs+prs:3,m,sg
- בכפל: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- רסנו: NOUN,m,sg,abs+prs:3,m,sg
- מי: PRON,interr,sg
- יבוא: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Psalm 74:13-14 (verbal): Speaks of God dividing the sea and breaking the heads of Leviathan — direct mythic/monster language parallel to Job’s depiction of Leviathan’s terrifying mouth and teeth.
- Psalm 104:26 (thematic): Mentions Leviathan as a creature of the sea formed by God; relates to Job’s catalog of the sea-monster and God’s sovereign role over such beasts.
- Isaiah 27:1 (allusion): Prophetic image of the LORD punishing Leviathan, the twisting serpent — an allusive use of the same chaos‑monster motif found in Job’s description.
- Psalm 89:9-11 (esp. v.10) (thematic): Speaks of God subduing Rahab/sea‑monster imagery (’you crushed Rahab’), echoing the theme of God’s mastery over monstrous forces like the Leviathan in Job.
Alternative generated candidates
- Who can strip off his outer garment? Who would come within his double bridle?
- Who can uncover the face of his garment? Who can come near him with his double bridle?
Job.41.6 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- דלתי: NOUN,f,sg,poss1s
- פניו: NOUN,m,pl,cons+3,m,sg
- מי: PRON,interr,sg
- פתח: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- סביבות: NOUN,f,pl,abs
- שניו: NOUN,f,pl,poss3,m,pl
- אימה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Psalm 74:13-14 (allusion): Describes God’s subduing of Leviathan and the sea-monster imagery (heads broken, given as food) that echoes Job’s terrifying portrayal of Leviathan’s mouth and teeth.
- Isaiah 27:1 (allusion): Speaks of the LORD punishing Leviathan the serpent—a parallel theological image of a monstrous sea-dragon opposed and described in colorful, fearsome terms like Job’s depiction.
- Psalm 104:26 (verbal): Uses the name Leviathan and depicts it as a great sea creature formed by God, a verbal parallel that ties Psalmic sea-monster language to Job’s detailed portrait of the beast’s mouth and teeth.
- Jonah 2:2 (thematic): Refers to being swallowed by a great fish/sea-creature and rescued from its belly; thematically parallels the motif of a fearsome mouth/sea-monster that dominates human experience in Job’s description.
Alternative generated candidates
- Who can open the doors of his face, round about his teeth is terror.
- Who can open the doors of his face, around his teeth is terror.
Job.41.7 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- גאוה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- אפיקי: NOUN,m,pl,cons
- מגנים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- סגור: ADJ,m,sg
- חותם: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- צר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Psalm 104:26 (verbal): Uses the name Leviathan and depicts the great sea-creature as part of God’s creation, echoing Job’s description of a formidable sea-monster.
- Psalm 74:13-14 (allusion): Speaks of God’s power over sea-monsters—‘you crushed the heads of Leviathan’—paralleling Job’s focus on the creature’s strength and God’s sovereignty over it.
- Isaiah 27:1 (allusion): Refers to Leviathan the fleeing serpent whom the LORD will punish, thematically connected to Job’s portrayal of the monstrous sea-serpent and divine mastery.
- Genesis 1:21 (thematic): Records God’s creation of ‘great sea creatures,’ providing a creation-theological background for Job’s depiction of a primeval, powerful sea-monster.
Alternative generated candidates
- His scales are his pride, tightly sealed together.
- His back is made of rows of shields, shut up closely as with a seal.
Job.41.8 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אחד: NUM,card,m,sg
- באחד: PREP
- יגשו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- ורוח: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- לא: PART_NEG
- יבוא: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- ביניהם: PREP,3,m,pl
Parallels
- Job 41:15-17 (verbal): Immediate context: continues the description of Leviathan's overlapping scales—'one is so near to another that no air can come between them'—same lexical and imagistic cluster about impenetrable plates.
- Psalm 104:26 (thematic): Mentions Leviathan as a sea creature that God made; thematically parallels Job's portrayal of a powerful, God‑created sea monster.
- Isaiah 27:1 (allusion): Speaks of Leviathan the fleeing serpent/dragon whom the Lord will punish—uses the same mythic sea‑monster motif and divine mastery over it.
- Psalm 74:13-14 (thematic): Describes God breaking the heads of the sea monsters and giving them to the creatures of the desert—parallel theme of divine control over chaotic sea beasts and their destructive power.
Alternative generated candidates
- They are joined to one another; they hold fast and cannot be separated.
- Each is so close to the other that no air can pass between them.
Job.41.9 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- איש: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- באחיהו: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs+3,m,sg
- ידבקו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- יתלכדו: VERB,hitpael,impf,3,m,pl
- ולא: CONJ
- יתפרדו: VERB,hitp,imperfect,3,m,pl
Parallels
- Psalm 104:26 (verbal): Mentions Leviathan by name and emphasizes the creature as part of God’s creation beyond human control, echoing Job’s portrayal of the monster’s independence and resistance to human appeal.
- Psalm 74:14 (thematic): Describes God’s subduing of the fleeing sea monsters (including Leviathan/Rahab imagery); parallels Job’s discourse about the creature’s awesome, untamable nature and divine sovereignty over such beasts.
- Isaiah 27:1 (allusion): Speaks of the LORD punishing Leviathan, the twisting serpent—an eschatological image of God’s mastery over the sea-monster motif that Job treats rhetorically when asking who can contend with Leviathan.
- Isaiah 40:12–15 (thematic): Contains divine rhetorical questions about human ability to measure or control creation; parallels God’s challenging, rhetorical mode in Job 41 that underscores human impotence before cosmic creatures.
Alternative generated candidates
- Each one is close to the next; they stick together and cannot be parted.
- They are joined one to another; they clasp each other and cannot be separated.
Job.41.10 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ע: ADJ,m,pl,cons
- טישתיו: NOUN,m,sg,abs+3ms
- תהל: VERB,qal,impf,3,ms
- אור: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ועיניו: CONJ+NOUN,f,pl,abs,3,m,sg
- כעפעפי: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs
- שחר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Job 41:18-21 (verbal): Immediate context in the Leviathan description: like v.10 this passage uses luminous/fiery imagery (eyes, sneezings, sparks, burning lamps) to portray the creature's terrifying brightness and breath.
- Psalm 74:13-14 (thematic): Speaks of God breaking the heads of the sea monster (Leviathan) and subduing chaotic sea-creatures — thematically related to Job's cosmic/chaotic portrayal of Leviathan.
- Isaiah 27:1 (thematic): Refers to Leviathan the twisted serpent, whom God will punish — another prophetic image of the chaotic sea-monster that parallels Job's depiction.
- Daniel 10:6 (verbal): A visionary figure whose eyes are described like flaming torches — parallels Job's use of light/fire metaphors for eyes, associating vision with consuming brightness.
- Revelation 1:14 (verbal): The risen‑Christ figure has eyes 'like a flame of fire' — echoes the biblical motif of eyes depicted as fire/light found in Job 41:10.
Alternative generated candidates
- His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.
- His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.
Job.41.11 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- מפיו: PREP+NOUN+PRON,3,m,sg
- לפידים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- יהלכו: VERB,qal,imperfect,3,pl
- כידודי: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,cs
- אש: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- יתמלטו: VERB,hithpael,impf,3,m,pl
Parallels
- Psalm 18:8 (Heb. Psalm 17:8) (verbal): Describes smoke/"devouring fire" coming from the mouth—close verbal imagery to Job's picture of sparks and fire issuing from the creature's mouth.
- 2 Samuel 22:9 (quotation): David's victory-song repeats the same language used in Psalm 18 (and echoes Job's image): fire and smoke issuing from the mouth, underscoring a shared idiom of divine/monster fury.
- Revelation 11:5 (verbal): The two witnesses are said to have fire proceed out of their mouths to consume enemies—an apocalyptic echo of mouth-born fire as a destructive force.
- Psalm 74:13-14 (thematic): Speaks of God attacking and subduing the sea-monster (Leviathan), thematically linked to Job's portrayal of a monstrous, threatening sea-creature.
- Nahum 1:6 (thematic): Depicts the Lord's fury poured out like fire and irresistible destructive power—parallels the motif of overwhelming, fiery force associated with the creature in Job.
Alternative generated candidates
- From his mouth go flaming torches; sparks of fire leap forth.
- Out of his mouth go flaming torches; sparks of fire leap forth.
Job.41.12 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- מנחיריו: PREP+NOUN,m,pl,abs,3,m,sg
- יצא: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- עשן: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- כדוד: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- נפוח: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- ואגמן: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Job 41:19 (verbal): Immediate parallel within the Leviathan description: same scene continues, explicitly depicting fire/sparks from its mouth and smoke issuing from its nostrils—closely matching wording and imagery.
- Psalm 18:8 (verbal): Theophanic language: “Smoke went up from his nostrils, and devouring fire from his mouth” uses virtually the same smoke-from-nostrils/fire-from-mouth motif, echoing the vivid imagery of Job 41:12.
- Isaiah 30:33 (thematic): Compares breath to a stream of brimstone that kindles fire—a related metaphor of breath/nostrils producing destructive fire, thematically similar to the Leviathan’s smoky, fiery breath.
- Psalm 74:14 (thematic): Speaks of God’s defeat of Leviathan/sea-monster; thematically links the cosmic/chaotic creature of Job 41 to other biblical portrayals of Leviathan and divine control over such monstrous forces.
Alternative generated candidates
- Smoke goes out of his nostrils, as from a boiling pot and burning rushes.
- Out of his nostrils goes smoke, as from a boiling pot and burning rushes.
Job.41.13 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- נפשו: NOUN,f,sg,abs+PRON,3,m,sg
- גחלים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- תלהט: VERB,qal,imperf,3,f,sg
- ולהב: CONJ+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- מפיו: PREP+NOUN+PRON,3,m,sg
- יצא: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Psalm 18:8 (verbal): Very close wording: 'fire out of his mouth... coals were kindled by it'—the same imagery of breath producing fire as in Job 41:13.
- Isaiah 30:33 (verbal): Speaks of the LORD's (or a furnace's) breath kindling coals/Tophet—verbal and thematic parallel of breath as the agent that kindles fire.
- Isaiah 27:1 (allusion): Mentions Yahweh punishing Leviathan/the fleeing dragon—connects thematically to Job's depiction of Leviathan as a monstrous sea-dragon.
- Revelation 13:13 (thematic): The beast causes fire to come down from heaven—New Testament echo of destructive, supernatural fire associated with dragonlike/beastly figures, paralleling Job's fire-breathing monster.
Alternative generated candidates
- His breath kindles coals, and a flame goes out of his mouth.
- His breath kindles coals, and a flame goes out from his mouth.
Job.41.14 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- בצוארו: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs,3,m,sg
- ילין: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- עז: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ולפניו: CONJ+PREP,3,m,sg
- תדוץ: VERB,qal,impf,3,f,sg
- דאבה: VERB,qal,perf,3,f,pl
Parallels
- Job 40:15-24 (thematic): Both passages belong to the cycle of divine speeches describing primeval monsters (Behemoth and Leviathan). The emphasis on formidable, 'armored' bodies and uncontestable strength in 40:15–24 parallels the focus on Leviathan’s sealed, impenetrable scales in 41:14.
- Psalm 104:26 (allusion): Psalm 104 explicitly names Leviathan as a creature God made. The portrait of a great sea-monster under God’s ordering echoes Job 41:14’s depiction of Leviathan’s physical bulk and God’s sovereignty over such creatures.
- Psalm 74:13-14 (thematic): These verses describe God’s subduing of the sea and the crushing of Leviathan’s heads. The combat motif and imagery of a monstrous sea-creature correspond to Job 41’s focus on Leviathan’s terrifying, tightly joined scales and power.
- Isaiah 27:1 (allusion): Isaiah’s oracle against Leviathan as a twisting/sea-serpent draws on the same ancient Near Eastern monster tradition. Job 41:14’s detail of impenetrable, sealed scales fits within this broader motif of a chaotic sea-dragon portrayed as invulnerable until God acts.
Alternative generated candidates
- In his neck abides strength, and terror dances before him.
- In his neck abides strength; terror dances before him.
Job.41.15 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- מפלי: NOUN,m,pl,const
- בשרו: NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,3,m,sg
- דבקו: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- יצוק: VERB,qal,ptc,m,sg
- עליו: PREP,3,m,sg
- בל: PART
- ימוט: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
Parallels
- Job 41:16 (structural): Immediate parallel in the same Leviathan passage—continues the image of the scales joined so closely that no air can pass between them, elaborating the same sealed armor motif.
- Psalm 74:13-14 (thematic): Describes God’s defeat of the sea monster (Leviathan) and the breaking of its heads—themewise related to Job’s depiction of Leviathan as a powerful, armored sea-monster overcome by divine power.
- Psalm 104:26 (thematic): Mentions Leviathan as a great sea-creature formed by God to play in the sea, thematically connecting to Job’s portrayal of Leviathan as a primeval, God‑created sea monster with distinctive physical features.
- Isaiah 27:1 (allusion): Speaks of God punishing Leviathan the fleeing serpent (the crooked serpent) and slaying the dragon of the sea—an OT tradition of a monstrous, serpentine sea‑creature related to Job’s Leviathan imagery.
Alternative generated candidates
- His flesh is firm as a dish, immovable, cast upon him without moving.
- The folds of his flesh stick together; they are firm on him and immovable.
Job.41.16 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- לבו: NOUN,m,sg,abs+PRON,3,m,sg
- יצוק: VERB,qal,ptc,m,sg
- כמו: PREP
- אבן: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ויצוק: CONJ+VERB,qal,perf,3,m,sg
- כפלח: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- תחתית: NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Ezekiel 36:26 (thematic): Uses the metaphor of a 'stony' or 'heart of stone'—contrasts Job's description of a heart like stone by promising God will remove a stony heart and give a new one.
- Ezekiel 11:19 (thematic): Repeats the 'stony heart' motif (God taking away the heart of stone), thematically related to Job's image of a heart as hard as rock.
- Psalm 74:14 (allusion): Speaks of God breaking Leviathan—connects to Job's extended depiction of Leviathan and the creature's formidable, stone‑like strength.
- Isaiah 27:1 (allusion): Pronounces judgment on Leviathan (the twisting serpent), echoing the ancient Near Eastern sea‑monster imagery found in Job 41.
- Job 40:15 (structural): Description of Behemoth as a primeval, God‑made monster parallels the catalogue of monstrous traits in Job 41 (Leviathan), showing a paired treatment of cosmic beasts.
Alternative generated candidates
- His heart is hard as a stone, hard as the lower millstone.
- His heart is firm as a stone, as hard as the nether millstone.
Job.41.17 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- משתו: NOUN,m,sg,suff+3,m
- יגורו: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,pl
- אלים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- משברים: NOUN,m,pl,abs
- יתחטאו: VERB,hitpael,impf,3,m,pl
Parallels
- Psalm 18:8 (verbal): Describes smoke rising from nostrils and devouring fire from the mouth—closely echoes Job's imagery of smoke and fiery breath, using the same theophanic/ferocious motifs.
- Exodus 15:8 (thematic): In the song after the Red Sea crossing God’s 'nostrils' or blast is said to affect the sea—parallels the motif of breath/nostrils as a powerful, world-altering force linked to sea/chaos imagery.
- Isaiah 27:1 (thematic): Speaks of the LORD punishing Leviathan, the fleeing serpent—connects Job’s Leviathan depiction to the wider biblical 'chaos monster' tradition and divine victory over sea-serpents.
- Psalm 74:13-14 (thematic): Describes God dividing the sea and crushing the heads of the sea monster (Leviathan); thematically parallels Job’s portrayal of a monstrous sea-creature and the cosmic struggle imagery.
- Psalm 104:26 (thematic): Mentions Leviathan as a creature God formed to play in the sea—provides a complementary perspective on Leviathan within the Psalter and the broader biblical corpus on sea monsters.
Alternative generated candidates
- When he rises up the mighty are afraid; at the crashing they are beside themselves.
- When he raises himself up the mighty are afraid; at the crashing they are beside themselves.
Job.41.18 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- משיגהו: VERB,qal,imprf,3,m,sg
- חרב: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- בלי: PREP
- תקום: VERB,qal,impf,3,f,sg
- חנית: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- מסע: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ושריה: CONJ+NOUN,f,pl,abs
Parallels
- Job 40:15-24 (structural): Description of Behemoth—another primeval monster in the Job cycle—emphasizes its strength and practical invulnerability to human weapons, paralleling Leviathan’s immunity here.
- Psalm 74:13-14 (thematic): Speaks of God dividing the sea and crushing Rahab/Leviathan’s heads—connects to the theme of the chaotic sea-monster and divine/human attempts to subdue or be thwarted by it.
- Isaiah 27:1 (allusion): Oracle against Leviathan (the fleeing serpent) mentions God’s ‘great and strong sword’ used against the sea-dragon; relates directly to imagery of sword/spear and the fate or invulnerability of the monster.
- Psalm 104:26 (thematic): Brief depiction of Leviathan as a creature of the sea under God’s care—parallels the cosmic/creational context in which Leviathan appears in Job and the creature’s remarkable, untamable nature.
Alternative generated candidates
- The sword that reaches him cannot avail, nor spear, dart, or javelin.
- The sword that reaches him does not prevail, nor the spear, dart, or harpoon.
Job.41.19 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- יחשב: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- לתבן: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ברזל: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- לעץ: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- רקבון: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- נחושה: ADJ,f,sg
Parallels
- Job 41:20 (verbal): Immediate continuation of the same portrait of Leviathan—both verses contrast iron/bronze with fragile material and emphasize that weapons (arrows, spears) are ineffective against him.
- Psalm 74:13-14 (thematic): Describes God’s victory over the sea-monster (Leviathan/Rahab), using similar chaos-monster imagery to portray a powerful, sea-dwelling foe subdued by divine action—parallels Job’s depiction of a mighty, weapon-defying beast.
- Isaiah 27:1 (thematic): Speaks of the LORD punishing Leviathan, the twisting serpent—an echo of the Leviathan motif in Job that frames a colossal sea-serpent as a primeval force of chaos.
- Psalm 104:26 (allusion): Mentions Leviathan as a creature of the sea, highlighting its awesome, untamable character; parallels Job’s emphasis on the creature’s superiority to human iron and bronze.
Alternative generated candidates
- He counts iron as straw, and brass as rotten wood.
- He counts iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood.
Job.41.20 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- לא: PART_NEG
- יבריחנו: VERB,hiph,impf,3,m,sg
- בן: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- קשת: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- לקש: PREP
- נהפכו: VERB,niphal,perf,3,pl
- לו: PRON,3,m,sg
- אבני: NOUN,f,pl,cons
- קלע: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Job 41:1-34 (structural): The entire Leviathan speech; 41:20 is part of this extended description of a primeval sea-monster that repels human weapons and displays invulnerability (context for the verse).
- Job 41:26-29 (verbal): Neighboring verses that explicitly state the impotence of human arms—swords, spears, darts, and arrows—against Leviathan, closely echoing the image of missiles and slings failing in 41:20.
- Psalm 74:14 (thematic): Speaks of God breaking the heads of Leviathan and giving him as food—a theological counterpoint to Job’s depiction that human weaponry cannot subdue Leviathan, emphasizing divine (not human) power over the beast.
- Isaiah 27:1 (allusion): Portrays Yahweh punishing Leviathan (the twisting serpent) with his fierce and great sword—an allusion to the motif that Leviathan resists human arms but is finally judged by divine force.
- Psalm 104:26 (thematic): Mentions Leviathan as a creature of the sea made by God; thematically parallels Job’s portrayal of Leviathan as a mighty, God‑appointed sea monster beyond ordinary human control.
Alternative generated candidates
- Arrows are regarded as stubble; slingstones as rotten wood.
- Arrows are turned to stubble; the sling-stone becomes like chaff.
Job.41.21 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- כקש: PREP+NOUN,m,sg,abs
- נחשבו: VERB,niphal,perf,3,m,pl
- תותח: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- וישחק: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- לרעש: PREP
- כידון: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Psalm 104:26 (thematic): Names and pictures Leviathan as a great sea-creature under God’s control — parallels Job’s extended portrait of a monstrous sea-being.
- Isaiah 27:1 (allusion): Speaks of the LORD punishing Leviathan the fleeing serpent; echoes the mythic/chaotic sea‑monster tradition that Job invokes.
- Psalm 74:13-14 (thematic): Describes God dividing the sea and crushing the heads of sea‑monsters/dragons — thematically related to Job’s depiction of hostile, colossal creatures subdued by divine power.
- Jonah 1:17 (Jonah 2:1) (thematic): The ‘great fish’/sea‑monster motif (the creature that swallows Jonah) resonates with Job’s imagery of enormous, dangerous creatures of the deep.
Alternative generated candidates
- Clubs are counted as stubble; he laughs at the threat of javelins.
- Clubs are regarded as stubble; he laughs at the rattling of the javelin.
Job.41.22 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- תחתיו: PREP+PRON,3,m,sg
- חדודי: NOUN,m,pl,cons
- חרש: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- ירפד: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- חרוץ: ADJ,m,sg,abs
- עלי: PREP+PRON,1,sg
- טיט: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Job 41:21 (structural): Immediate contextual parallel within the Leviathan description—nearby verses describe the creature's terrifying anatomy and the scene around it, linking the imagery of underparts and surrounding hazards.
- Job 41:24 (verbal): Uses stone imagery in describing the creature's body (hardness, scales) that parallels the motif of 'stones' beneath and the contrast of impenetrable hide.
- Psalm 74:13-14 (thematic): Speaks of God breaking the heads of the sea‑monster and subduing chaotic sea-creatures—echoes the broader mythic motif of dangerous sea beasts and hostile terrain.
- Isaiah 27:1 (allusion): Portrays Leviathan/the sea‑serpent imagery and divine punishment of the chaos‑monster, thematically related to Job's depiction of a primeval, fashioned sea‑beast.
- Psalm 104:26 (thematic): Mentions Leviathan as a mighty sea creature formed by God; connects to Job's poetic catalogue of the creature's fearful attributes and the cosmic sea‑monster tradition.
Alternative generated candidates
- Under him are sharp potsherds; he spreads a threshing sled on the mire.
- Under him are sharp potsherds; he spreads out like a threshing-sledge on the mire.
Job.41.23 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- ירתיח: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- כסיר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- מצולה: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- ים: NOUN,m,sg,cs
- ישים: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- כמרקחה: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Psalm 74:13-14 (thematic): Speaks of God breaking the heads of the sea monsters and giving them as food to the creatures of the wilderness—parallels Job’s Leviathan imagery and the motif of chaotic sea monsters subject to divine action.
- Psalm 104:25-26 (allusion): Explicitly names Leviathan as a creature of the sea made by God and pictures the sea as Leviathan’s domain—echoes Job’s descriptive focus on the sea-monster and the sea as its realm.
- Isaiah 27:1 (thematic): Prophetic imagery of God punishing Leviathan, the fleeing serpent; shares the same cosmic/chaotic sea-monster motif found in Job’s depiction.
- Nahum 1:4 (structural): Declares that God rebukes the sea and dries it up and causes the depths to be laid bare—parallels Job’s language of the turbulent/deep sea and God’s sovereignty over chaotic waters.
- Psalm 107:23-30 (thematic): Describes sailors beset by a furious sea that only God can still—parallels Job’s vivid language of the boiling/troubled deep and the idea of the sea’s tumult under divine control.
Alternative generated candidates
- He makes the deep boil like a pot; he makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
- He makes the deep boil like a pot; he makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
Job.41.24 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אחריו: PREP,3,m,sg
- יאיר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- נתיב: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- יחשב: VERB,qal,impf,3,m,sg
- תהום: NOUN,f,sg,abs
- לשיבה: PREP+NOUN,f,sg,abs
Parallels
- Genesis 1:2 (verbal): Both passages use the Hebrew term תְּהוֹם ('the deep'); Job 41:24's reference to the deep evokes the same primordial sea imagery found in Genesis 1:2.
- Psalm 74:13-14 (thematic): Psalm and Job both invoke the sea‑monster/Leviathan and God’s mastery over chaotic waters—Psalm 74 celebrates God’s subduing of the monster much as Job’s description underscores its awesome, chaotic power.
- Isaiah 27:1 (thematic): Isaiah explicitly names Leviathan (the twisting serpent) and announces God’s victory over the sea‑serpent; thematically parallel to Job’s extended portrait of Leviathan as the prime emblem of chaos.
- Psalm 104:26 (thematic): Psalm 104 speaks of Leviathan as a great sea creature formed by God and active in the sea; parallels Job 41’s focus on Leviathan’s nature and its place within the divine ordering of the waters.
Alternative generated candidates
- Behind him he leaves a shining wake; one would think the deep to be white-haired.
- After him he leaves a shining wake; one would think the deep to be white-haired.
Job.41.25 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- אין: PART,neg
- על: PREP
- עפר: NOUN,m,sg,abs
- משלו: VERB,qal,perf,3,m,pl
- העשו: VERB,qal,perf,3,pl
- לבלי: PREP
- חת: NOUN,m,sg,const
Parallels
- Job 41:26 (verbal): Immediate continuation in the Leviathan description: explicitly says iron is like straw and bronze like rotten wood, reinforcing the theme that weapons are powerless against the beast.
- Psalm 74:13-14 (thematic): Speaks of God breaking the heads of sea monsters and Leviathan—thematises the cosmic sea-monster motif and contrasts human inability to subdue Leviathan with divine victory over it.
- Isaiah 27:1 (thematic): Depicts Yahweh punishing and slaying Leviathan with a mighty sword—another treatment of the Leviathan/sea-dragon tradition that highlights divine power where human weapons fail.
- Psalm 104:26 (thematic): Describes Leviathan as a creature of God that roams the sea, contributing to the broader biblical motif of a formidable sea-monster whose existence illustrates divine sovereignty and power.
Alternative generated candidates
- There is nothing on earth like him, a creature made without fear.
- On earth there is not his like, a creature without fear.
Job.41.26 - Details
Translation
Original Text
Morphology
- את: PRT,acc
- כל: DET
- גבה: ADJ,m,sg
- יראה: VERB,qal,perf,1,_,sg
- הוא: PRON,3,m,sg
- מלך: NOUN,m,sg,cons
- על: PREP
- כל: DET
- בני: NOUN,m,pl,construct
- שחץ: NOUN,m,sg,abs
Parallels
- Job 40:15-24 (structural): Close structural and thematic parallel: the preceding chapter describes Behemoth with similar language of unrivaled strength and sovereign stature among creatures, forming the pair of monster-poems (Behemoth and Leviathan) that frame God's challenge to Job.
- Psalm 74:13-14 (verbal): Uses the same Leviathan/sea-monster imagery and depicts God’s subduing of the monster’s heads—echoing the theme of a mighty, uncontrollable creature set over the proud and then judged by divine power.
- Psalm 104:26 (thematic): Mentions the leviathan/tannîn as a great sea creature created by God; parallels Job’s portrayal of a primeval sea-monster as a unique, awe-inspiring ruler among creatures.
- Isaiah 27:1 (allusion): Speaks of Yahweh’s punishment of Leviathan the fleeing serpent/dragon in the sea—resonant with Job’s depiction of a dominant, proud sea-monster who embodies chaos and must be overcome by divine authority.
Alternative generated candidates
- He beholds every high thing; he is king over all the children of pride.
- He beholds all high things; he is king over all the sons of pride.
Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
Who is this that darkens counsel with words devoid of knowledge?
Gird up your loins like a man; I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell, if you have understanding.
Who determined its measurements—do you know? Or who stretched a line upon it?
On what were its bases sunk, or who laid its cornerstone,
when the morning stars sang together and all the sons of God shouted for joy?
Who shut up the sea with doors, when it burst forth as from the womb,
when I made the clouds its garment and thick darkness its swaddling‑band,
when I fixed my bounds and set bars and doors,
and said, ‘Thus far shall you come, and no farther; here shall your proud waves be stayed’?
Have you commanded the morning in your days, and caused the dawn to know its place,
that it might take hold of the skirts of the earth, and the wicked be shaken out of it?
It is changed like clay under the seal; it stands like a garment.
From the wicked their light is withheld, and the uplifted arm is broken.
Have you entered into the springs of the sea, or walked in the recesses of the deep?
Have the gates of death been revealed to you? Or have you seen the gates of deep darkness?
Have you comprehended the breadth of the earth? Declare, if you know it all.
Where is the way where light dwells, and where is its place of darkness?
That you should take it to its territory and know the paths to its home?
Do you know it, for you were then born? Or the number of your days—are they great?
Have you entered the treasuries of snow, or have you seen the treasuries of hail,
which I have reserved for the time of trouble, for the day of battle and war?
By what way is light separated, and the east wind scattered upon the earth?
Who has cleft a channel for the torrents, or a way for the lightning‑bolt to run?
To give rain on a land where there is no man, on the desert in which there is no human being,
to satisfy the waste and desolate land, and to make the bud of the tender grass to spring forth?
Does the rain have a father, or who has begotten the drops of dew?
From whose womb comes the ice, and the hoarfrost of heaven who gives it birth?
The waters become hard like stone, and the surface of the deep freezes.
Can you bind the chains of the Pleiades, or loosen the belt of Orion?
Can you bring forth the constellations in their season, or guide the Bear with its cubs?
Do you know the ordinances of the heavens? Can you establish their rule on the earth?
Can you lift up your voice to the clouds, that abundant waters may cover you?
Can you send forth the lightning, that they may go and say to you, ‘Here we are’?
Who has put wisdom in the inward parts, or who has given understanding to the mind?
Who can number the clouds by wisdom, or who can unloose the bottles of heaven,
when the dust hardens into a mass and the clods cling together?
Will you hunt the prey for the lion, or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,
when they couch in their dens and lie in wait in their thickets?
Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young cry to God and wander for lack of food?
Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the deer?
Can you number the months that they fulfill, or do you know the time they give birth?
They bow down, they bring forth their young; they cast out their pangs.
Their young increase; they go forth and do not return to them.
Who set the wild donkey free? Who loosed the bonds of the swift ass,
whom I made to the wilderness for his home, and the salt land his dwelling?
He laughs at the tumult of the city; he hears not the shouter of the driver.
He ranges the high mountains for his pasture and searches after every green thing.
Will the wild ox be willing to serve you? Will he spend the night at your manger?
Can you bind him in the furrow with ropes, or will he harrow the valleys after you?
Will you trust him because his strength is great, and will you leave to him your labor?
Will you have him gather your grain and bring it to your threshing‑floor?
Does the wing of the ostrich grow proud, or her pinions and plumage the stork's?
For she leaves her eggs on the ground and warms them in the dust,
and forgets that a foot may crush them or that wild beasts may trample them.
She hardens her offspring to want; she gives no heed though her labor be in vain and without fear.
For God has deprived her of wisdom; He has not given her a share of understanding.
Yet at the sight of the horse and his rider she laughs.
Have you given the horse his might? Have you clothed his neck with thunder?
He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength; he goes out to meet the weapons.
He laughs at fear and is not dismayed; he does not turn away from the sword.
Upon him the quiver rattles, the flashing spear and the javelin.
He devours the ground with fierceness and is not terrified; he snorts and rejoices in battle.
At the blast of the trumpet he says, ‘Aha!’ From afar he smells the battle, the thunder of captains and the shouting.
Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars and spreads his wings toward the south?
Does the eagle mount up at your command, and make his nest on high?
He dwells on the rock and stays on the cleft of the crag and the stronghold.
From there he spies out the prey; his eyes behold afar off.
His young ones also suck up blood; and where the slain are, there he is.
(There are the carcasses—their food—and wherever the slain are, there is he.) And the LORD answered Job and said:
Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? Let him that reproves God answer it.
Then Job answered the LORD and said:
Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand upon my mouth.
Once I have spoken—twice—and I will proceed no further. And the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:
Gird up now your loins like a man; I will question you, and you shall declare to me.
Will you put me in the wrong that you may be justified? Will you condemn me that you may be right?
Have you an arm like God? Or can you thunder with a voice like him?
Adorn yourself with majesty and dignity; clothe yourself with glory and splendor.
Pour out the overflowings of your anger, and look on everyone who is proud and abase him.
Look on every proud man and bring him low; tread down the wicked where they stand.
Hide them in the dust together; bind their faces in the hidden place.
Then I will also acknowledge to you that your own right hand can save you.
Behold now the behemoth, which I made as I made you; he eats grass like an ox.
Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his power in the muscles of his belly.
His tail is like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are knit together.
His bones are like tubes of bronze, his limbs like rods of iron.
He is the first of the ways of God; only he that made him can approach him with a sword.
For the mountains yield food for him, and all the beasts of the field play there.
He lies under the lotus trees, in the covert of the reeds and in the marsh.
The shady trees cover him with their canopy; the willows of the brook surround him.
Behold, he is mighty, and he is not troubled though the river rushes by his mouth; he is confident when the Jordan surges against him.
Will you take him with a hook, or pierce his nose with a cord?
Will you draw Leviathan with a hook, or fasten his tongue with a rope?
Will you set a thorn in his nose, or bore his jaw with a hook?
Will he make many supplications to you? Will he speak soft words to you?
Will you make a covenant with him to take him for servants forever?
Will you play with him as with a bird, or will you bind him for your maidens?
Shall your companions make a banquet of him? Shall they part him among merchants?
Can you fill his skin with harpoons, or his head with fishing‑spears?
Lay your hand upon him; remember the battle—you shall not do it again.
Is his hope to be put to shame? Will he be cast down at his appearance?
Who is he that can stand before him when he is roused? Who can oppose him and stand?
Who has preceded me that I should repay him? Everything under the heavens is mine.
I will not be silent about his limbs, nor about the greatness of his power, nor about the orderly arrangement of his frame.
Who can open the doors of his face? Around his teeth there is terror.
His jaw is a double gate; dread is round about his mouth.
His scales are his pride, shut up tightly, immovable.
Each is close to the other; they clasp one to another and cannot be separated.
They stick together, they hold fast; they cannot be sundered.
His sneezings flash forth light; his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.
From his mouth go burning lamps; sparks of fire leap forth.
Smoke goes out of his nostrils, as from a boiling pot and burning rushes.
His breath kindles coals, and a flame goes forth from his mouth.
In his neck abides strength, and terror dances before him.
His flesh is firm, fastened to him; it cannot be moved.
His heart is as hard as a stone, as firm as the lower millstone.
When he rises up, the mighty are afraid; at the crashing they are beside themselves.
The sword will not avail, nor spear, nor dart, nor the pointed shaft.
He counts iron as straw and bronze as rotten wood.
The arrow cannot make him flee; slingstones are turned to stubble for him.
Clubs are regarded as stubble; he laughs at the shaking of the spear.
Under him sharp potsherds are spread; he makes the deep boil like a pot.
He makes the sea like a boiling cauldron; he makes the deep a bubbling pot.
After him his path makes the deep shine; the abyss is like a pot seethed over.
There is nothing on earth like him—made without fear.
He beholds all lofty things; he is king over all the proud beasts.