Job 40:17
in Job 40His tail sways like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are tightly knit.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
He moveth his tail like a cedar: The sinews of his thighs are knit together.
KJV
He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together.
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This verse in Job 40
Commentary
13 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
He moveth his tail like a cedar - Margin, “setteth up.” The Hebrew word (חפץ châphêts) means “to bend, to curve;” and hence, it commonly denotes “to be inclined, favorably disposed to desire or please.” The obvious meaning here is, that this animal had some remarkable power of “bending” or “curving” its tail, and that there was some resemblance in this to the motion of the cedar-tree when moved by the wind. In “what” this resemblance consisted, or how this was a proof of its power, it is not quite easy to determine.
This site's exposition
See the strength of his loins
on Job 40:16-19
The description turns to the body, a tail that “sways like a cedar” and bones that “are tubes of bronze”. Gill reads the language as deliberately outsized, likening the parts to trees and metals in place of other animals, too strange for an easy diagram.
This site's exposition
His tail sways like a cedar
His tail sways like a cedar, and readings divide on it: Henry reports some who took it as the elephant's trunk. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown find a cedar too long for the tail of a hippopotamus. Wesley reads the sinews of his thighs as able to overturn a boat.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church3 voices
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XXXII · Written before 604.
proposed
He setteth fast his tail, like a cedar. 22. There are in these words many points, to be brought forward for moral instruction. But we examine in the first place the violences of this Behemoth, in order afterwards to detect more accurately his crafts. In Holy Scripture under the name 'cedar,' sometimes the lofty excellence of heavenly glory is expressed; but sometimes the stubborn pride of the wicked is designated.
Animals who perform coitus of this kind press the tail between their legs when they perform the sexual act, and so he says, "He stiffens his tail like a cedar," which he says because of its great size. Third, he describes the organs serving coitus …
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 15 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
In the twelfth mystery, the opening of scriptures, the Antichrist is symbolized by the beast from the depth, the one that comes up out of the abyss, who will crush all things. For he will be consummate in every form of malice; he will have …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Some understand it of the trunk of the elephant, for the word signifies any extreme part, and in that there is indeed a wonderful strength. So strong is the elephant in his back and loins, and the sinews of his thighs, that he will carry a large wooden tower, and a great number of fighting men in it.
Tail - Which though it be but short, yet when it is erected, is exceeding stiff and strong. Thighs - The sinews of his thighs. His thighs and feet are so sinewy and strong, that one of them is able to break or over-turn a large boat.
5 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
He moveth his tail like a cedar,....
A humbling challenge which God gave to Job. After he had heaped up many hard questions upon him, to show him, by his manifest ignorance in the works of nature, what an incompetent judge he was of the methods and designs of Providence, he clenches the nail with one demand more, which stands by itself here as the application of the whole.
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
On the other hand, Job 40:21, 22 are characteristic of the amphibious river horse. So leviathan (the twisting animal), Job 41:1, is a generalized term for cetacea, pythons, saurians of the neighboring seas and rivers, including the crocodile, which is the most prominent, and is often associated with the river horse by old writers.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
like a cedar--As the tempest bends the cedar, so it can move its smooth thick tail [UMBREIT]. But the cedar implies straightness and length, such as do not apply to the river horse's short tail, but perhaps to an extinct species of animal (see on Job 40:15). stones--rather, "thighs." wrapped--firmly twisted together, like a thick rope.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
He moveth his tail like a cedar - Therefore it was neither the elephant, who has a tail like that of the hog, nor the hippopotamus, whose tail is only about a foot long. The sinews of his stones - I translate with Mr. Good, and for the same reasons, the sinews of his haunches, which is still more characteristic; as the animal must have excelled in leaping.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יַחְפֹּ֣ץ | yachpotz | it stiffens | H2654 → | 74 times |
| זְנָב֣וֹ | zenavo | tail its | H2180 → | |
| כְמוֹ־ | khemov- | like | H3644 → | 143 times |
| אָ֑רֶז | ʾarez | a cedar | H730 → | |
| גִּידֵ֖י | gidei | [the] sinews of | H1517 → | |
| פַחֲדָ֣יו | fachadov | thighs its | H6344 → | |
| יְשֹׂרָֽגוּ׃ | yesoragu | they are intertwined | H8276 → |
יַחְפֹּ֣ץit stiffens
yachpotzH2654 →74 times
זְנָב֣וֹtail its
zenavoH2180 →
כְמוֹ־like
khemov-H3644 →143 times
אָ֑רֶזa cedar
ʾarezH730 →
גִּידֵ֖י[the] sinews of
gideiH1517 →
פַחֲדָ֣יוthighs its
fachadovH6344 →
יְשֹׂרָֽגוּ׃they are intertwined
yesoraguH8276 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Job
This page draws on 11 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 15; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXXII; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.