Job 41:3

Job 41:3 Will he make many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft [words] unto thee?

Ver. 3. Will he make many supplications unto thee?] As conquered captives use to do; witness Benhadad, 1Ki 20:32, and Teridates, king of Parthians, who being brought prisoner to Nero, thus bespake him: I come unto thee as unto my god, and will henceforth worship thee as I do the sun in heaven; I will be whatsoever thou shalt appoint me; for thou art my fate and fortune, Sυ γαρ μοι, και μοιρα ει και τυχη (Dio in Neron.).

Will he speak soft words unto thee?] Verba byssina; as unto his lord and master. An elegant and pleasant prosopopoeia (personification). No, his stomach is too great to stoop so low.

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 41:3-6. Will he make supplications unto thee? — Doth he dread thy anger or power? Or will he earnestly beg thy favour? It is a metaphor from men in distress, who use these means to them to whose power they are subject. Will he make a covenant with thee? — Namely, to do thee faithful service, as the next words explain it. Canst thou bring him into bondage and force him to serve thee? Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? — As children play with little birds kept in cages, which they do at their pleasure, and without any fear. Or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens? — For thy little daughters, which he mentions rather than little sons, because such are most subject to fear. Shall thy companions make a banquet of him? — Hebrew, יכרו, jichru, concident, Vul. Lat., cut, or carve, him up? Shall thy friends, who assisted thee in taking him, feed upon him, or make a banquet for him; that is, for joy, that thou hast taken him? Shall they part him among the merchants? — As is usual in such cases, that all who are partners in the labour and hazard may partake of the profit also, and divide the spoil.

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

The parts and members of the whale?

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

soft words--that thou mayest spare his life. No: he is untamable.

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 3. Will he make many supplications] There are several allusions in these verses to matters of which we know nothing.

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

3. Ironical question whether Leviathan will beg to be spared or treated kindly.

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.

Will he make many supplications unto thee?.... To cease pursuing him, or to let him go when taken, or to use him well and not take away his life; no, he is too spirited and stouthearted to ask any favour, it is below him;

will he speak soft words unto thee? smooth and flattering ones, for the above purposes? he will not: this is a figurative way of speaking.

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

Will he make many supplications unto thee? - In the manner of a captive begging for his life. That is, will he quietly submit to you? Prof. Lee supposes that there is an allusion here to the well-known cries of the dolphin when taken; but it is not necessary to suppose such an allusion. The idea is, that the animal here referred to would not tamely submit to his captor.

Will he speak soft words unto thee? - Pleading for his life in tones of tender and plaintive supplication.

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

Supposition. This is explained by the Fathers as spoken of the devil. (Amama) --- But the Hebrew may signify, that God will reward each one according to his deserts, and that Job had consequently no reason to complain; or it means, that the strength and beauty of the crocodile should be made known. (Calmet) --- Protestants, "I will not conceal his parts, nor his power, nor his comely proportion." Theo.[Theodotion?] in Septuagint, "I will not keep silence on his account, and the word of power shall take pity on his equal." (Haydock)

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).

Doth he dread thine anger or power? or will he humbly and earnestly beg thy favour, that thou wouldst spare him, and not pursue him, or release him out of prison? It is a metaphor from men in distress and misery, who use these means to them to whose power they are subject.

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

3. Many supplications unto thee? — That thou mayest set him, a captive, at liberty. The preceding verses evidently refer to the taking of the crocodile alive. Suspended on a rush cord, he is now represented as begging for his life. The ancients fancied that the dolphin, the supposed mortal enemy of the crocodile, would make supplications for its life. Eichhorn’s rendering. “Will he (sincerely) make moan unto thee,” were it correct, might justify his note based on a singular fancy of the ancients, that the crocodile moaned simply that he might entice the wanderer to sure destruction. Thence rises the idea, which, in the form of “crocodile’s tears,” has become proverbial.

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

Will he make many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft words unto thee? Ironical. Will he behave as human captives do, when they wish to curry favour with their captors?

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

Supplications - Doth he dread thine anger or power? Or will he earnestly beg thy favour? It is a metaphor from men in distress, who use these means to them to whose power they are subject.

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

Who came to meet Me Who is it who came to meet Me by accepting to worship Me and keep My commandments, and I will pay him his reward.

Everything under the heavens is Mine Everything that is under the heavens is Mine, and I have the power to pay him his reward, his recompense, and his remuneration.

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.