Job 41:14

Job 41:14 Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth [are] terrible round about.

Ver. 14. Who can open the doors of his face?] The two leaved doors of his jaws, to let in a bridle? Samson dared to venture upon a roaring lion and rend him, as a man would rend a kid. But never dared any such thing be done to a whale.

His teeth are terrible round about] The whale’s teeth are said to be 120, each tooth four cubits long.

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.

Job 41:14. Who can open the doors of his face? — Namely, his mouth. If it be open, no one dares to enter within it, as he now said; and here he adds, none dare open it. His teeth are terrible round about — This is true of some kinds of whales, though others are said to have either none, or no terrible teeth; but it is more eminently and unquestionably true of the crocodile, of which this very thing is observed by all authors who write of it.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

doors of . . . face--his mouth. His teeth are sixty in number, larger in proportion than his body, some standing out, some serrated, fitting into each other like a comb [BOCHART].

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 14. The doors of his face?] His jaws which are most tremendous.

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

(14) Who can open the doors of his face?—i.e., his mouth. Round about his teeth is terror.

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

14. who can open] Or, who hath opened. The “doors of his face” is an expression for his “mouth” which has something artificial and forced in it.

his teeth are terrible] The jaws of the crocodile are very extended; the two rows of long, pointed teeth, thirty-six, it is said, above, and thirty beneath, being bare, as the mouth has no lips, present a formidable appearance.

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.

Who can open the doors of his face?.... Of his mouth, the jaws thereof, which are like a pair of folding doors: the jaws of a crocodile have a prodigious opening. Peter Martyr (u) speaks of one, whose jaws opened seven feet broad; and Leo Africanus (w) affirms he saw some, whose jaws, when opened, would hold a whole cow. To the wideness of the jaws of this creature Martial (x) alludes; and that the doors or jaws of the mouth of the whale are of a vast extent will be easily believed by those who suppose that was the fish which swallowed Jonah;

his teeth are terrible round about; this may seem to make against the whale, the common whale having none; though the "ceti dentati" are a sort of whales that have many teeth in the lower jaw, white, large, solid, and terrible (y). Olaus Magnus (z) speaks of some that have jaws twelve or fourteen feet long; and teeth of six, eight, and twelve feet; and there is a sort called "trumpo", having teeth resembling those of a mill (a). In the spermaceti whale are rows of fine ivory teeth in each jaw, about five or six inches long (b). But of the crocodile there is no doubt; which has two rows of teeth, very sharp and terrible, and to the number of sixty (c).

(u) Decad. 5. c. 9. (w) Descript. Africae, l. 9. p. 763. So Sandys's Travels, l. 2. p. 78. Edit. 5. (x) Epigram. l. 3. cp. 64. (y) Vid. Plin. l. 9. c. 5, 6. and Philosoph. Transact. vol. 3. p. 544. Scheuchzer. Physic. Sacr. vol. 4. p. 848. (z) De Ritu Gent. Septent. l. 21. c. 8. (a) Philosoph. Transact. abridged, vol. 2. p. 847, 848. (b) Philosoph. Transact. abridged, vol. 7. part 3. p. 425. (c) Aelian. l. 10. c. 21.

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

Who can open the doors of his face? - His mouth. The same term is sti 1 used to denote the mouth - from its resemblance to a door. The idea is, that no one would dare to force open his mouth. This agrees better with the crocodile than almost any other animal. It would not apply to the whale. The crocodile is armed with a more formidable set of teeth than almost any other animal; see the description in the notes at Job 41:1. Bochart says that it has sixty teeth, and those much larger than in proportion to the size of the body. Some of them, he says, stand out; some of them are serrated, or like a saw, fitting into each other when the mouth is closed; and some come together in the manner of a comb, so that the grasp of the animal is very tenacious and fearful; see a full description in Bochart.

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

Place; though people may shoot at him, they will make no impression, chap. xl. 20, 26. (Haydock) --- If God send his thunderbolts at him, the monster must however perish. (Calmet) --- Symmachus, "His flesh being cast for him, as in the foundry, (molten) is immoveable." (Haydock) --- Yet God destroyeth him whom man cannot overcome. (Worthington)

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).

The doors of his face, to wit, his mouth. If it be open, none dare enter within it, as he now said; and here he adds, that if it be shut, none dare open it.

His teeth are terrible round about: this is true of some kinds of whales, though others are said to have either none, or no terrible teeth; but it is more eminently and unquestionably true of the crocodile, of which this very thing is observed by all authors who write of it.

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

14. The doors of his face — His mighty jaws, which extend back of his eyes and ears. Martial (iii, 90) jests over a large mouth, and compares it to that of the crocodile of the Nile.

His teeth… terrible — Literally, Round about his teeth is terror: within his teeth terror takes up its abode. The lofty conception of the speaker which clothed the war horse with thunder, (Job_39:19,) now finds within the ugly jaws of leviathan the dwelling place of terror.

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

Who can open the doors of his face? Who can make him open his huge, gaping jaws, if he chooses to keep them shut? Who would dare to do so? His teeth are terrible round about. The crocodile has "two rows of sharply pointed teeth, thirty or more on each side" (Russell"s "Ancient and Modern Egypt," p. 460). They are "so formed and disposed as to tear their prey rather than masticate it" ("Dict. Universelle des Sciences," p. 447). The voracity of the full-grown crocodile is great; and.he will not scruple to attack and devour men, if they come in his way. The natives of Upper Egypt have a wholesome terror of him.

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

Doors - His mouth. If it be open, none dare enter within, and if it be shut, none dare open it.

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

Strength lodges in his neck Mightiness.

and sadness rejoices before him For there is no sadness or grief before him, since he does not fear any creature. [The word] תָּדוּץ is an expression of joy and happiness.

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.