Job 40:19
in Job 40He is the foremost of God’s works; only his Maker can draw the sword against him.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
He is the chief of the ways of God: He only that made him giveth him his sword.
KJV
He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.
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This verse in Job 40
Commentary
12 notes on this verseHe is the chief of the ways of God,.... Or the beginning of them, that is, of the works of God in creation; which must be restrained to animals, otherwise there were works wrought before any of them were created. There were none made before the fifth day of the creation, and on that day was the river horse made; in which respect it has the preference to the elephant, not made till the sixth day.
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
He is the foremost of
In another reading his Maker gave him his sword, the teeth that cut grain, as Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note. Barnes compares foremost with Numbers 24:20. Aquinas took Behemoth as a figure of Satan.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
The Lord explains these things which have been said figuratively continuing, "He," that is, Satan about whom these metaphors are used, "is as the first of the ways of God," of his works. If this refers to the works or creation, it is because Satan …
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XXXII · Written before 604.
proposed
He is the chief of the ways of God. 47. As if He were plainly saying, He has strength sufficient for so many purposes, because in the nature of things the Creator made him first, when creating him in his substance. For what do we understand by the 'ways' of God, but His doings? Of which He says by the Prophet; For My ways are not as your ways. [Is.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
I made him with thee, that thou mayest look upon him and receive instruction." We need not go far for proofs and instances of God's almighty power and sovereign dominion; they are near us, they are with us, they are under our eye wherever we are.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
They think themselves as well fortified against the judgments of God as the elephant with his bones of brass and iron; but he that made the soul of man knows all the avenues to it, and can make the sword of justice, his wrath, to approach to it, and touch it in the most tender and sensible part.
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.
4 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century4 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
He is the chief of the ways of God - In size and strength. The word rendered “chief” is used in a similar sense in Num 24:20, “Amalek was the first of the nations;” that is, one of the most powerful and mighty of the nations. He that made him can make his sword approach unto him - According to this translation, the sense is, that God had power over him, notwithstanding his great strength and size, and could take his life when he pleased.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Chief of the works of God; so "ways" (Job 26:14; Pr 8:22). can make his sword to approach--rather, "has furnished him with his sword" (harpe), namely, the sickle-like teeth with which he cuts down grain. English Version, however, is literally right.
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.
He is the chief of the ways of God - The largest, strongest, and swiftest quadruped that God has formed. He that made him - No power of man or beast can overcome him. God alone can overcome him, and God alone could make his sword (of extinction) approach to him.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ה֭וּא | hu' | it | H1931 → | 1879 times |
| רֵאשִׁ֣ית | reshit | [is] [the] first of | H7225 → | 51 times |
| דַּרְכֵי־ | darkhei- | [the] ways of | H1870 → | 707 times |
| אֵ֑ל | ʾel | God | H410 → | 241 times |
| הָ֝עֹשׂוֹ | haoso | the [one who] made it | H6213 → | 2628 times |
| יַגֵּ֥שׁ | yagesh | let him bring near | H5066 → | |
| חַרְבּֽוֹ׃ | charbo | sword his | H2719 → | 413 times |
ה֭וּאit
hu'H1931 →1879 times
רֵאשִׁ֣ית[is] [the] first of
reshitH7225 →51 times
דַּרְכֵי־[the] ways of
darkhei-H1870 →707 times
אֵ֑לGod
ʾelH410 →241 times
הָ֝עֹשׂוֹthe [one who] made it
haosoH6213 →2628 times
יַגֵּ֥שׁlet him bring near
yageshH5066 →
חַרְבּֽוֹ׃sword his
charboH2719 →413 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 104:24How many are Your works, O LORD! In wisdom You have made them all; the earth is full of Your creatures.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 10:12
The LORD made the earth by His power; He established the world by His wisdom and stretched out the heavens by His understanding.
- Psalms 40:5
Many, O LORD my God, are the wonders You have done, and the plans You have for us— none can compare to You— if I proclaim and declare them, they are more than I…
- Psalms 50:10–12
for every beast of the forest is Mine— the cattle on a thousand hills.
- Jeremiah 10:12
Through
Isaiah 27:1In that day the LORD will take His sharp, great, and mighty sword, and bring judgment on Leviathan the fleeing serpent—Leviathan the coiling serpent—and He will slay the dragon of the sea.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 29:3
Speak to him and tell him that this is what the Lord GOD says: Behold, I am against you, O Pharaoh king of Egypt, O great monster who lies among his rivers, who says,…
- Isaiah 51:9
Awake, awake, put on strength, O arm of the LORD. Wake up as in days past, as in generations of old. Was it not You who cut Rahab to pieces, who pierced through the…
- Isaiah 66:16
For by fire and by His sword, the LORD will execute judgment on all flesh, and many will be slain by the LORD.
- Revelation 12:3
Then another sign appeared in heaven: a huge red dragon with seven heads, ten horns, and seven royal crowns on his heads.
- Job 26:13
By His breath the skies were cleared; His hand pierced the fleeing serpent.
- Ezekiel 29:3
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Job
This page draws on 9 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); 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 (1748-1763); John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.