Job 41:10

Job 41:10 None [is so] fierce that dare stir him up: who then is able to stand before me?

Ver. 10. None is so fierce that dare stir him up] Unless he be ambitious of his own destruction; cruel (so the word here signifieth) to his own life, which hereby he desperately casteth away. Aristotle telleth us that fishes do sleep: and perhaps these greater fishes take more sleep. Now who dare awake them sleeping, or encounter them waking, and rolling in the waters? None surely but a mad man.

Who then is able to stand before me?] Et est qui coram me stet? No more surely than a man before a whale, or a glass bottle before a cannon shot. Here then we have the accommodation and application of the former discourse, which we must not look upon as cunningly devised fables, 2Pe 1:6, or read as we do the old stories of foreign businesses, but as that wherein ourselves are nearly interested and concerned, that we may give God the glory of his power (as here, far beyond that of the whale or any other creature) and of his justice, as Job 41:11-12.

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.

10 None is so foolhardy that he dare excite him!

And who is it who could stand before Me?

11 Who hath given Me anything first of all, that I must requite it?

Whatsoever is under the whole heaven is Mine.

One sees from these concluding inferences, thus applied, what is the design, in the connection of this second speech of Jehovah, of the reference to behmoth and leviathan, which somewhat abruptly began in Job 40:15. If even the strength of one of God's creatures admits no thought of being able to attack it, how much more should the greatness of the Creator deter man from all resistance! For no one has any claim on God, so that he should have the right of appearing before Him with a rude challenge. Every creature under heaven is God's; man, therefore, possesses nothing that was not God's property and gift, and he must humbly yield, whether God gives or takes away. לא, Job 41:10, is not directly equivalent to אין, but the clause is exclamatory. יעורנו Chethb, יעירנו Ker, is the Palestine reading, the reverse the Babylonian; the authorized text (chiefly without a Ker) is יעוּרנּוּ from עוּר in a transitive signification (ἐγείρειν), as שׁוּב, Job 39:12, comp. Job 42:10. The meaning of הקדּימני is determined according to ואשׁלּם: to anticipate, viz., by gifts presented as a person is approaching the giver (Arab. aqdama). הוּא, Job 41:11, is neutral, as Job 13:16; Job 15:9; Job 31:11, Job 31:28. תּחת is virtually a subj.: that which is under ... . After these apparently epiphonematic verses (2 and 3), one might now look for Job's answer. But the description of the leviathan is again taken up, and in fact hitherto it was only the invincibility of the animal that was spoken of; and yet it is not so described that this picture might form the exact pendent of the preceding.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

fierce--courageous. If a man dare attack one of My creatures (Gen 49:9; Num 24:9), who will dare (as Job has wished) oppose himself (Psa 2:2) to Me, the Creator? This is the main drift of the description of leviathan.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 10. None is so fierce that dare stir him up] The most courageous of men dare not provoke the crocodile to fight, or even attempt to rouse him, when, sated with fish, he takes his repose among the reeds. The strongest of men cannot match him.

Who then is able] If thou canst not stand against the crocodile, one of the creatures of my hand, how canst thou resist me, who am his Maker? This is the use which God makes of the formidable description which he has thus far given of this terrible animal.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(10) None is so fierce that dare stir him up.—“If, therefore, the creatures of My hand strike so much terror, how far more terrible must I be? If thou canst not save thyself from them, how much less canst thou be saved without Me?” (See Job_40:14.) The first clause may be understood thus: “He is not so cruel (the common meaning of the word rendered fierce)—i.e., to himself—that he should venture to rouse him up.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

10, 11. In these verses the speaker turns aside from describing the invincibility of Leviathan to impress the moral which he intends to teach by introducing the monster. If none dare stir up this creature, which God has made, who will stand before God who created him, or venture to contend with Him?

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.

None is so fierce that dare stir him up,.... This seems best to agree with the crocodile, who frequently lies down and sleeps on the ground (q), and in the water by night (r); see Eze 29:3; when it is very dangerous to arouse him; and few, if any so daring, have courage enough to do it: though whales have been seen lying near shore asleep, and looked like rocks, even forty of them together (s);

who then is able to stand before me? This is the inference the Lord draws from hence, or the use he makes of it; that if this creature is so formidable and terrible, that it is dangerous to arouse and provoke him, and there is no standing before him or against him; then how should anyone be able to stand before the Lord, who made this creature, whenever he is angry? see Psa 76:7.

(q) Plin. l. 8. c. 25. Solin. c. 45. (r) Ammian. Marcellin. l. 22. (s) See the North-West Fox, p. 205.

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

None is so fierce that dare stir him up - No one has courage to rouse and provoke him.

Who then is able to stand before me? - The meaning of this is plain. It is, “If one of my creatures is so formidable that man dare not attack it, how can he contend with the great Creator? This may perhaps be designed as a reproof of Job. He had expressed a desire to carry his cause before God, and to urge argument before him in vindication of himself. God here shows him how hopeless must be a contest with the Almighty. Man trembles and is disarmed of his courage by even the sight of one of the creatures of God. Overpowered with fear, he retires from the contemplated contest, and flees away. How then could he presume to contend with God? What hope could he have in a contest with him?

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

Fire, when they spout water, (Menochius) or pursue their prey open mouthed. This description is extremely poetical, like that of anger, 2 Kings xxii. 9. (Calmet)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

That dare stir him up, when he sleepeth or is quiet. None dare provoke him to the battle.

To stand before me; to contend with me his Creator, as thou, Job, dost, when one of my creatures is too hard for him.

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

10. Fierce — Zockler renders “foolhardy,” which is not to be preferred to the text, since the same word akzar, fierce, is in Job_30:21 applied by Job to God.

Dare stir him up — The same Hebrew word עור, “stir up,” is used in Job_3:8, of “raising up” leviathan, where it is implied that the only conceivable mode of dealing with him was by incantations — possibly spells of Satan, certainly by power supposed to be derived from the invisible world. See note on Job_3:8. The coincidence between the two passages should be noted, and is among many similar ones scattered through the Jehovistic section, which point to its integral oneness with the rest of the book. See Excursus VIII, page 281. In an inscription on a tablet at Karnak, Amun Ra thus addresses Thothmes III.: “I have made them behold thy majesty like unto a crocodile: he is the terrible master of the waters: no one ventures to approach him.”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

None is so fierce that dare stir him up. The crocodile is often seen asleep, or nearly asleep, upon sand-banks washed by the Nile. He would be a bold man who should creep near, and stir him up. Who then is able to stand before me? Here we reach the point whereto the whole argument has been working up. If man cannot cope with creatures, which are the work of God"s hands, how much leas can he presume to cope with him who is their Maker!

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

Stand - To the battle. Me - To contend with me who created him?

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Connecting Statement:

Yahweh continues to rebuke Job by asking him rhetorical questions. He uses rhetorical questions to remind Job that Yahweh is much more powerful than both Leviathan and Job.

None is so fierce that he dare stir Leviathan up; who, then, is he who can stand before me?

It would be easier to stir up Leviathan than to stand before Yahweh. This question can be translated as a statement. AT: "Since you know that no person is so fierce that he dare stir Leviathan up, you should certainly know that no one can stand before me." (See: Rhetorical Question)

Who has first given anything to me in order that I should repay him?

This question can be translated as a statement. AT: "You know that no one has first given anything to me, so there is no one whom I need to repay." (See: Rhetorical Question)

he ... him

The words "he" and "him" refer to a person.

I will not keep silent concerning ... nor about ... nor about

This can be translated in positive form. AT: "I will certainly speak about ... and about ... and about" (See: Litotes)

concerning Leviathan's legs, nor about the matter of his strength, nor about his graceful form

These are three things about which God will not keep silent.

his

The word "his" refers to Leviathan.

translationWords

heaven

grace

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

His sneezes flash forth light With every sneeze that he sneezes, light flashes forth and shines.

flash forth as in (above 29:3), “when He lit (בהלו) His candle.”

and his eyes are like the rays of dawn His eyes shine and illuminate like the redness of the sun, like the time of morning when the sun becomes red.

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.