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Selected Verse: Job 41:30 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
Job 41:30	Strong Concordance	Sharp [02303] stones [02789] are under him: he spreadeth [07502] sharp pointed things [02742] upon the mire [02916].
	King James	Sharp stones are under him: he spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire.

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

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A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
stones--rather, "potsherds," that is, the sharp and pointed scales on the belly, like broken pieces of pottery. sharp-pointed things--rather, "a threshing instrument," but not on the fruits of the earth, but "on the mire"; irony. When he lies on the mire, he leaves the marks of his scales so imprinted on it, that one might fancy a threshing instrument with its sharp teeth had been drawn over it (Isa 28:27).

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

stones--rather, "potsherds," that is, the sharp and pointed scales on the belly, like broken pieces of pottery.

sharp-pointed things--rather, "a threshing instrument," but not on the fruits of the earth, but "on the mire"; irony. When he lies on the mire, he leaves the marks of his scales so imprinted on it, that one might fancy a threshing instrument with its sharp teeth had been drawn over it (Isa 28:27).

Notes on the Bible, by Albert Barnes, [1834]
Sharp stones are under him - Margin, as in Hebrew, "pieces of pot sherd." The Hebrew word (חדוד chaddûd), means "sharp, pointed"; and the phrase used here means "the sharp points of a potsherd," or broken pieces of earthenware. The reference is, undoubtedly, to the scales of the animal, which were rough and pointed, like the broken pieces of earthenware. This description would not agree with the whale, and indeed will accord with no other animal so well as with the crocodile. The meaning is, that the under parts of his body, with which he rests upon the mire, are made up of sharp, pointed things, like broken pottery. He spreadeth sharp pointed things upon the mire - That is, when he rests or stretches himself on the mud or slime of the bank of the river. The word used here and rendered "sharp pointed things" (חרוץ chârûts) means properly something "cut in;" then something sharpened or pointed; and is used to denote "a threshing sledge;" see this instrument described in Isa 28:27-28, note; Isa 41:15, note. It is not certain, however, that there is any allusion here to that instrument. It is rather to anything that is rough or pointed, and refers to the lower part of the animal as having this character. The Vulgate renders this, "Beneath him are the rays of the sun, and he reposeth on gold as on clay." Dr. Harris, Dr. Good, and Prof. Lee, suppose it refers to what the animal lies on, meaning that he lies on splinters of rock and broken stone with as much readiness and ease as if it were clay. But the above seems to me to be the true interpretation. It is that of Gesenius, Rosenmuller, and Umbreit. Grotius understands it as meaning that the weapons thrown at him lie around him like broken pieces of pottery.

The Scofield Bible Commentary, by Cyrus Ingerson Scofield, [1917]
sharp stones Hebrew, sharp pieces of potsherd.

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]
30 His under parts are the sharpest shards, He spreadeth a threshing sledge upon the mire. 31 He maketh the deep foam like a caldron, He maketh the sea like a pot of ointment. 32 He lighteth up the path behind him, One taketh the water-flood for hoary hair. 33 Upon earth there is not his equal, That is created without fear. 34 He looketh upon everything high, He is the king over every proud beast. Under it, or, תּחתּיו taken like תּחת, Job 41:11, as a virtual subject (vid., Job 28:5): its under parts are the most pointed or sharpest shards, i.e., it is furnished with exceedingly pointed scales. חדּוּד is the intensive form of חד (Arab. hadı̂d, sharpened = iron, p. 542, note), as חלּוּק, Sa1 17:40, of חלק (smooth), (Note: In Arabic also this substantival form is intensive, e.g., lebbûn, an exceedingly large kind of tile, dried in the open air, of which farm-yards are built, nearly eight times larger than the common tile, which is called libne (לבנח).) and the combination חדּוּדי חרשׂ (equal the combination חדודי החרשׂים, comp. Job 30:6) is moreover superlative: in the domain of shards standing prominent as sharp ones, as Arab. chairu ummatin, the best people, prop. bon en fait de peuple (Ew. 313, c. Gramm. Arab. 532). lxx ἡ στρωμνὴ αὐτοῦ ὀβελίσκοι ὀξεῖς, by drawing ירפּד to Job 41:30, and so translating as though it were רפידתו (Arab. rifâde, stratum). The verb רפד (rafada), cogn. רבד, signifies sternere (Job 17:13), and then also culcire; what is predicated cannot be referred to the belly of the crocodile, the scales of which are smooth, but to the tail with its scales, which more or less strongly protrude, are edged round by a shallow cavity, and therefore are easily and sharply separated when pressed; and the meaning is, that when it presses its under side in the morass, it appears as though a threshing-sledge with its iron teeth had been driven across it. The pictures in Job 41:31 are true to nature; Bartram, who saw two alligators fighting, says that their rapid passage was marked by the surface of the water as it were boiling. With מצוּלה, a whirlpool, abyss, depth (from צוּל = צלל, to hiss, clash; to whirl, surge), ים alternates; the Nile even in the present day is called bahr (sea) by the Beduins, and also compared, when it overflows its banks, to a sea. The observation that the animal diffuses a strong odour of musk, has perhaps its share in the figure of the pot of ointment (lxx ὥσπερ ἐξάλειπτρον, which Zwingli falsely translates spongia); a double gland in the tail furnishes the Egyptians and Americans their (pseudo) musk. In Job 41:32 the bright white trail that the crocodile leaves behind it on the surface of the water is intended; in Job 41:32 the figure is expressed which underlies the descriptions of the foaming sea with πολιός, canus, in the classic poets. שׂיבה, hoary hair, was to the ancients the most beautiful, most awe-inspiring whiteness. משׁלו, Job 41:33, understood by the Targ., Syr., Arab. version, and most moderns (e.g., Hahn: there is not on earth any mastery over it), according to Zac 9:10, is certainly, with lxx, Jer., and Umbr., not to be understood differently from the Arab. mithlahu (its equal); whether it be an inflexion of משׁל, or what is more probable, of משׁל (comp. Job 17:6, where this nomen actionis signifies a proverb = word of derision, and התמשּׁל, to compare one's self, be equal, Job 30:19). על־עפר is also Hebr.-Arab.; the Arabic uses turbe, formed from turâb (vid., on Job 19:25), of the surface of the earth, and et-tarbâ-u as the name of the earth itself. העשׂוּ (for העשׂוּי, as צפוּ, Job 15:22, Cheth. = צפוּי, resolved from עשׂוּו, ‛asûw, Sa1 25:18, Cheth.) is the confirmatory predicate of the logical subj. described in Job 41:33 as incomparable; and לבלי־חת (from חת, the a of which becomes i in inflexion), absque terrore (comp. Job 38:4), is virtually a nom. of the predicate: the created one (becomes) a terrorless one (a being that is terrified by nothing). Everything high, as the לבלי־חת, Job 41:33, is more exactly explained, it looketh upon, i.e., remains standing before it, without turning away affrighted; in short, it (the leviathan) is king over all the sons of pride, i.e., every beast of prey that proudly roams about (vid., on Job 28:8).

Commentary on the Old Testament, by Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch [1857-78]

30 His under parts are the sharpest shards,

He spreadeth a threshing sledge upon the mire.

31 He maketh the deep foam like a caldron,

He maketh the sea like a pot of ointment.

32 He lighteth up the path behind him,

One taketh the water-flood for hoary hair.

33 Upon earth there is not his equal,

That is created without fear.

34 He looketh upon everything high,

He is the king over every proud beast.

Under it, or, תּחתּיו taken like תּחת, Job 41:11, as a virtual subject (vid., Job 28:5): its under parts are the most pointed or sharpest shards, i.e., it is furnished with exceedingly pointed scales. חדּוּד is the intensive form of חד (Arab. hadı̂d, sharpened = iron, p. 542, note), as חלּוּק, Sa1 17:40, of חלק (smooth),

(Note: In Arabic also this substantival form is intensive, e.g., lebbûn, an exceedingly large kind of tile, dried in the open air, of which farm-yards are built, nearly eight times larger than the common tile, which is called libne (לבנח).)

and the combination חדּוּדי חרשׂ (equal the combination חדודי החרשׂים, comp. Job 30:6) is moreover superlative: in the domain of shards standing prominent as sharp ones, as Arab. chairu ummatin, the best people, prop. bon en fait de peuple (Ew. 313, c. Gramm. Arab. 532). lxx ἡ στρωμνὴ αὐτοῦ ὀβελίσκοι ὀξεῖς, by drawing ירפּד to Job 41:30, and so translating as though it were רפידתו (Arab. rifâde, stratum). The verb רפד (rafada), cogn. רבד, signifies sternere (Job 17:13), and then also culcire; what is predicated cannot be referred to the belly of the crocodile, the scales of which are smooth, but to the tail with its scales, which more or less strongly protrude, are edged round by a shallow cavity, and therefore are easily and sharply separated when pressed; and the meaning is, that when it presses its under side in the morass, it appears as though a threshing-sledge with its iron teeth had been driven across it.

The pictures in Job 41:31 are true to nature; Bartram, who saw two alligators fighting, says that their rapid passage was marked by the surface of the water as it were boiling. With מצוּלה, a whirlpool, abyss, depth (from צוּל = צלל, to hiss, clash; to whirl, surge), ים alternates; the Nile even in the present day is called bahr (sea) by the Beduins, and also compared, when it overflows its banks, to a sea. The observation that the animal diffuses a strong odour of musk, has perhaps its share in the figure of the pot of ointment (lxx ὥσπερ ἐξάλειπτρον, which Zwingli falsely translates spongia); a double gland in the tail furnishes the Egyptians and Americans their (pseudo) musk. In Job 41:32 the bright white trail that the crocodile leaves behind it on the surface of the water is intended; in Job 41:32 the figure is expressed which underlies the descriptions of the foaming sea with πολιός, canus, in the classic poets. שׂיבה, hoary hair, was to the ancients the most beautiful, most awe-inspiring whiteness. משׁלו, Job 41:33, understood by the Targ., Syr., Arab. version, and most moderns (e.g., Hahn: there is not on earth any mastery over it), according to Zac 9:10, is certainly, with lxx, Jer., and Umbr., not to be understood differently from the Arab. mithlahu (its equal); whether it be an inflexion of משׁל, or what is more probable, of משׁל (comp. Job 17:6, where this nomen actionis signifies a proverb = word of derision, and התמשּׁל, to compare one's self, be equal, Job 30:19). על־עפר is also Hebr.-Arab.; the Arabic uses turbe, formed from turâb (vid., on Job 19:25), of the surface of the earth, and et-tarbâ-u as the name of the earth itself. העשׂוּ (for העשׂוּי, as צפוּ, Job 15:22, Cheth. = צפוּי, resolved from עשׂוּו, ‛asûw, Sa1 25:18, Cheth.) is the confirmatory predicate of the logical subj. described in Job 41:33 as incomparable; and לבלי־חת (from חת, the a of which becomes i in inflexion), absque terrore (comp. Job 38:4), is virtually a nom. of the predicate: the created one (becomes) a terrorless one (a being that is terrified by nothing). Everything high, as the לבלי־חת, Job 41:33, is more exactly explained, it looketh upon, i.e., remains standing before it, without turning away affrighted; in short, it (the leviathan) is king over all the sons of pride, i.e., every beast of prey that proudly roams about (vid., on Job 28:8).

Explanatory Notes on the Whole Bible, by John Wesley [1754-65]
Stones - His skin is so impenetrable, that the sharpest stones or shells are as easy unto him as the mire.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
Sharp stones are under him - So hard and impenetrable are his scales, that splinters of flint are the same to him as the softest reeds.

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¹⁵ Behold, I will make [07760] thee a new [02319] sharp [02742] threshing [04173] instrument having [01167] teeth [06374]: thou shalt thresh [01758] the mountains [02022], and beat them small [01854], and shalt make [07760] the hills [01389] as chaff [04671].

²⁷ For the fitches [07100] are not threshed [01758] with a threshing instrument [02742], neither is a cart [05699] wheel [0212] turned about [05437] upon the cummin [03646]; but the fitches [07100] are beaten out [02251] with a staff [04294], and the cummin [03646] with a rod [07626].
²⁸ Bread [03899] corn is bruised [01854]; because he will not ever [05331] be threshing [0156] [01758] it, nor break [02000] it with the wheel [01536] of his cart [05699], nor bruise [01854] it with his horsemen [06571].

⁸ The lion's [07830] whelps [01121] have not trodden [01869] it, nor the fierce lion [07826] passed [05710] by it.

³³ Upon earth [06083] there is not his like [04915], who is made [06213] without [01097] fear [02844].

⁴ Where [0375] wast thou when I laid the foundations [03245] of the earth [0776]? declare [05046], if thou hast [03045] understanding [0998].

³³ Upon earth [06083] there is not his like [04915], who is made [06213] without [01097] fear [02844].

¹⁸ Then Abigail [026] made haste [04116], and took [03947] two hundred [03967] loaves [03899], and two [08147] bottles [05035] of wine [03196], and five [02568] sheep [06629] ready dressed [06213], and five [02568] measures [05429] of parched [07039] corn, and an hundred [03967] clusters of raisins [06778], and two hundred [03967] cakes [01690] of figs, and laid [07760] them on asses [02543].

²² He believeth [0539] not that he shall return [07725] out of darkness [02822], and he is waited [06822] for of the sword [02719].

²⁵ For I know [03045] that my redeemer [01350] liveth [02416], and that he shall stand [06965] at the latter [0314] day upon the earth [06083]:

¹⁹ He hath cast [03384] me into the mire [02563], and I am become like [04911] dust [06083] and ashes [0665].

⁶ He hath made [03322] me also a byword [04914] of the people [05971]; and aforetime [06440] I was as a tabret [08611].

¹⁰ And I will cut off [03772] the chariot [07393] from Ephraim [0669], and the horse [05483] from Jerusalem [03389], and the battle [04421] bow [07198] shall be cut off [03772]: and he shall speak [01696] peace [07965] unto the heathen [01471]: and his dominion [04915] shall be from sea [03220] even to sea [03220], and from the river [05104] even to the ends [0657] of the earth [0776].

³³ Upon earth [06083] there is not his like [04915], who is made [06213] without [01097] fear [02844].

³² He maketh a path [05410] to shine [0215] after [0310] him; one would think [02803] the deep [08415] to be hoary [07872].

³¹ He maketh the deep [04688] to boil [07570] like a pot [05518]: he maketh [07760] the sea [03220] like a pot of ointment [04841].

¹³ If I wait [06960], the grave [07585] is mine house [01004]: I have made [07502] my bed [03326] in the darkness [02822].

³⁰ Sharp [02303] stones [02789] are under him: he spreadeth [07502] sharp pointed things [02742] upon the mire [02916].

⁶ To dwell [07931] in the clifts [06178] of the valleys [05158], in caves [02356] of the earth [06083], and in the rocks [03710].

⁴⁰ And he took [03947] his staff [04731] in his hand [03027], and chose [0977] him five [02568] smooth [02512] stones [068] out of the brook [05158], and put [07760] them in a shepherd's [07462] bag [03627] which he had, even in a scrip [03219]; and his sling [07050] was in his hand [03027]: and he drew near [05066] to the Philistine [06430].

⁵ As for the earth [0776], out of it cometh [03318] bread [03899]: and under it is turned up [02015] as it were fire [0784].

¹¹ Who hath prevented [06923] me, that I should repay [07999] him? whatsoever is under the whole heaven [08064] is mine.