Job 39:22

Hebrew (Westminster Leningrad Codex)

English Translation

He mocks at fear, and is not dismayed; Neither does he turn back from the sword.

World English Bible · Public Domain

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יִשְׂחַ֣ק

sâchaq

H7832

“to laugh”

Verb, Qal, Imperfect, 3rd Person, Masculine, Singular

Appears 36× in the Hebrew Bible
First appears at Judges 16:25

Full BDB Definition

Origin: a primitive root

TWOT: 1905c

to laugh, play, mock - (Qal) - to laugh (usually in contempt or derision) - to sport, play - (Piel) - to make sport - to jest - to play (including instrumental music, singing, dancing) - (Hiphil) to laugh mockingly

About this verse

These counts appear in no published source. They are computed here, from the morphology-tagged text and Lemma’s own curated glosses. What Lemma adds →

8: words
7: distinct lemmas
Wisdom: section

Shared distinctive vocabulary

יִשְׂחַ֣ק to laugh H7832 occurs in 36 verses of the Hebrew Bible. Also found in:

Grammatical profile

3 verbs
3 nouns
2 particles

Verb forms

יִשְׂחַ֣ק Qal · Imperfect
יֵחָ֑ת Niphal · Imperfect
יָ֝שׁ֗וּב Qal · Imperfect

Repetition

A word recurs within this verse — often emphatic in Hebrew:

וְלֹ֣א not H3808 ×2

Hebrew & Septuagint length

In English translation the verse runs 16 words from the Hebrew and 20 from the Septuagint (LXX English) — closely comparable.

A rough comparison of the two English renderings, which tokenize alike — not a word-level alignment.

Word counts can differ between the Hebrew and the Greek without any difference in meaning — e.g. the Hebrew direct-object marker אֵת has no separate Greek word, and Greek often adds the article ὁ.

In the original languages it is 8 Hebrew tokens and 10 Greek tokens — but the two are counted differently (Hebrew bundles its prefixes and suffixes into one token; the Greek is in lemma form), so that isn’t a like-for-like length.

Cross-references

Topical passages linked to Job 39:22 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge — connected by theme and wording, ordered by reader-vote popularity; previews shown in the World English Bible.

Job 39:16 She deals harshly with her young ones, as if they were not hers. Though her labor is in vain, she is without fear,
Job 39:18 When she lifts up herself on high, She scorns the horse and his rider.
Job 41:33 On earth there is not his equal, That is made without fear.

Cross-references courtesy of OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0).

Hebrew and Greek witnesses Masoretic Hebrew ↔ Greek Septuagint

The same verse in the two great witnesses to the Old Testament, shown verse-for-verse.

These are two independent witnesses, not word-aligned to each other, and the Septuagint is shown in lemma (dictionary) form.

Hebrew Job 39:22 Masoretic · Westminster Leningrad Codex

יִשְׂחַ֣ק לְ֭פַחַד וְלֹ֣א יֵחָ֑ת וְלֹֽא יָ֝שׁ֗וּב מִפְּנֵי חָֽרֶב

He mocks at fear, and is not dismayed; Neither does he turn back from the sword.

World English Bible · Public Domain

Greek LXX Job 39:22 Septuagint · lemma form

συν ἀντιεἰμί βέλος καταγελάω καί οὐ μή ἀποστρέφω ἀπό σίδηρος

He laughs to scorn a king as he meets him, and will by no means turn back from the sword.

LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) · Public Domain

Hebrew: Westminster Leningrad Codex (CC BY 4.0). Greek: Septuagint (public domain); English from LXX2012 (modern English Septuagint) (Public Domain). How the Septuagint differs from the Hebrew →

Commentary

Notes on Job 39:22 from classic Christian and Jewish commentators (each source and its license shown beneath its notes). The classic Christian expositions comment on the surrounding passage and are grouped to its opening verse, so a note may address several verses; the Jewish commentaries on the Tanakh (Rashi and others) are per-verse, so they appear only where the commentator wrote on this verse.

Lemma curates 59 commentaries, every one of them public domain or Creative Commons licensed, each selected and text-cleaned for this edition rather than reprinted as found. About our sources →

Trapp's Complete Commentary

John Trapp

Job 39:22 He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted; neither turneth he back from the sword.

Ver. 22. He mocketh at fear, &c.] Heb. He laugheth, by an elegant prosopopoeia, {a} such as this Book is full of. Non vanes horret strepitus. He feareth no colours when once engaged in fight, but counts that a sport and play whereof others are afraid.

Neither turneth he back from the sword] Or any other offensive weapons; these cannot make him turn tail or recoil. He is never more furious than when he sees himself covered with blood. - Vires animosque a vulnere sumit; being wounded, he biteth and kicketh, and fighteth no less stoutly than the rider himself doth.

{a} A rhetorical figure by which an inanimate or abstract thing is represented as a person, or with personal characteristics: = personification

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Geneva Bible (1599)

Geneva Bible translators

That is, given him courage? which is meant by neighing and shaking his mane: for with his breath he covereth his neck.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne

22. from the sword] lit. because of, or, before the sword.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John Gill's Exposition

He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted,.... At those things which cause fear and fright to men; as arms, though ever so terrible, and armies, though never so numerous;

neither turneth he back from the sword; the naked sword, when it is drawn against him, and ready to be thrust into him; the horse being so bold and courageous was with the Egyptians a symbol of courage and boldness (v).

(v) Clement. Alex. Stromat. l. 5. p. 567.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible

He mocketh at fear - He laughs at that which is fitted to intimidate; that is, he is not afraid.

Neither turneth he back from the sword - He rushes on it without fear. Of the fact here stated, and the accuracy of the description, there can be no doubt.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations

At fear, i.e. at all instruments and objects of terror, as fear is oft used, as Pro 1:26; 10:21. He despiseth what other creatures dread.

From the sword; or, because of the sword; or, for fear of the sword, as this phrase is used, Isa 21:15; 31:8; Jer 14:16; 1:16.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

The Pulpit Commentary

He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted; neither turneth he back from the sword. "The cavalry of modern times will rush undismayed upon the line of opposing bayonets" (Professor Lee). "We do not believe that a body of infantry ever existed that, with the bayonet alone, unsupported by fire, could have checked the determined charge of good horsemen" (Denison, p. 510).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rashi

Rabbi Shlomo Yitzchaki (Rashi)

and is not dismayed He will not be frightened.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.

Lesson kit

Teaching starters — assembled from the data on this page, not authored interpretation. Every prompt links to the verse data it draws on. Edit before teaching.

Job, in the Wisdom, opens this verse with 8 words (7 distinct Hebrew lemmas). Its most distinctive word is sâchaq (“to laugh”). A historical commentator’s framing appears above. Read the whole chapter for the surrounding context.

Discussion questions

How does “to laugh” (sâchaq) shape what this verse is saying?
How does Judges 16:25, which shares the word «to laugh», read alongside this verse?
What does the repetition of “not” (2× in this one verse) do in this verse?
The translations on this page render this verse differently — a whole-verse word diff, not a word-by-word alignment. What might account for the different wordings?
«יִשְׂחַ֣ק» is a Qal Imperfect verb. How does that grammatical form shape the action described?
Compare how Trapp's Complete Commentary and Geneva Bible (1599) read this verse. Where do they agree or differ?

Things to notice

This verse counts 8 Hebrew ↔ 10 Greek words.
These translations choose different wording for 11 words in this verse.
“not” occurs 2× in this single verse.
7 distinct Hebrew lemmas span 8 words in this verse.