Job 40:22
in Job 40The lotus plants conceal him in their shade; the willows of the brook surround him.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The lotus-trees cover him with their shade; The willows of the brook compass him about.
KJV
The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about.
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This verse in Job 40
Commentary
12 notes on this verseThe shadows cover his shadow. 10. For all the wicked are in truth shadows of the devil: for while they give themselves up to imitate his iniquity, they derive, as it were, a form of resemblance from his body. But as the reprobate are his 'shadows' in the plural number, so each separate sinner is his 'shadow' in the singular.
This site's exposition
The hills yield him their produce
on Job 40:20-24
The hills yield Behemoth “their produce, while all the beasts of the field play nearby”. He lies “under the lotus plants, hidden among the reeds of the marsh”, an animal at rest. When “the river rages, Behemoth is unafraid”, secure though “the Jordan surges to his mouth”.
This site's exposition
the willows of the brook surround him
Wesley takes the brook as the Nile and places Behemoth there among the willows. Ishodad notes that an animal so large makes shade wherever it goes. Clarke finds the willows of the brook true to the hippopotamus.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
The words "the shadows surround it." Because of the size of the animal, [the author says], anywhere it goes, it casts shadows around it. The words "the crows like a torrent surround it." [This is said] because the habit of these birds is to approach …
Since this animal does not desire just any kind of shade but deep dark shade, he says, "The shadows protect his shadow," to say that the smaller shadow is protected by the larger shadow from the heat. He shows the cause of this shade saying, …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Brook - Or, of the Nile, of which this word is often used in scripture. His constant residence is in or near this river, or the willows that grow by it.
The shady trees cover him with their shadow,....
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 Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
That he is a very great and greedy drinker, not of wine or strong drink (to be greedy of that is peculiar to man, who by his drunkenness makes a beast of himself), but of fair water. (1.) His size is prodigious, and therefore he must have supply accordingly,
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.
The willows of the brook compass him - This would agree well enough with the hippopotamus.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The shady trees - Probably the “lote-trees;” see the note at Job 40:21. The same word is used here. The willow-trees of the brook - Of the “stream,” or “rivulet.” The Hebrew word (נחל nachal) means rather “a wady;” a gorge or gulley, which is swollen with torrents in the winter, but which is frequently dry in summer; see the notes at Job 6:15. Willows grew commonly on the banks of rivers. They could not be cultivated in the desert; Isa 15:7.
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יְסֻכֻּ֣הוּ | yesukuhu | they cover it | H5526 → | 24 times |
| צֶאֱלִ֣ים | tzeelim | thorny lotus plants | H6628 → | |
| צִֽלֲל֑וֹ | tzilalo | shade its | H6752 → | |
| יְ֝סֻבּ֗וּהוּ | yesubuhu | they surround it | H5437 → | |
| עַרְבֵי־ | ʾarvei- | [the] poplars of | H6155 → | |
| נָֽחַל׃ | nachal | [the] wadi | H5158 → | 141 times |
יְסֻכֻּ֣הוּthey cover it
yesukuhuH5526 →24 times
צֶאֱלִ֣יםthorny lotus plants
tzeelimH6628 →
צִֽלֲל֑וֹshade its
tzilaloH6752 →
יְ֝סֻבּ֗וּהוּthey surround it
yesubuhuH5437 →
עַרְבֵי־[the] poplars of
ʾarvei-H6155 →
נָֽחַל׃[the] wadi
nachalH5158 →141 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
Leviticus 23:40On the first day you are to gather the fruit of majestic trees, the branches of palm trees, and the boughs of leafy trees and of willows of the brook. And you are to…
it leads to
- Revelation 7:9
After this I looked and saw a multitude too large to count, from every nation and tribe and people and tongue, standing before the throne and before the Lamb. They were wearing white robes…
- Philippians 4:4
Rejoice in the Lord always. I will say it again: Rejoice!
- Matthew 21:8
A massive crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches from the trees and spread them on the road.
- John 12:13
They took palm branches and went out to meet Him, shouting: “Hosanna!” “Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord!” “Blessed is the King of Israel!”
- Deuteronomy 16:14–15
And you shall rejoice in your feast—you, your sons and daughters, your menservants and maidservants, and the Levite, as well as the foreigner, the fatherless, and the widows among you.
- Revelation 7:9
Through
Ezekiel 17:5He took some of the seed of the land and planted it in fertile soil; he placed it by abundant waters and set it out like a willow.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 8:7–9
For the LORD your God is bringing you into a good land, a land of brooks and fountains and springs that flow through the valleys and hills;
- Isaiah 44:4
They will sprout among the grass like willows by flowing streams.
- Deuteronomy 8:7–9
Through
Isaiah 15:7So they carry their wealth and belongings over the Brook of the Willows.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 48:36
Therefore My heart laments like a flute for Moab; it laments like a flute for the men of Kir-heres, because the wealth they acquired has perished.
- Jeremiah 48:36
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); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXXIII; Ishodad of Merv, COMMENTARY ON JOB 40:22; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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.