Job 41:16
in Job 41One scale is so near to another that no air can pass between them.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
One is so near to another, That no air can come between them.
KJV
One is so near to another, that no air can come between them.
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This verse in Job 41
Commentary
7 notes on this verseOne is joined to another, and not even a breath comes between them. 54. These scales of sinners are both hardened and joined together, so as not to be penetrated by any breath of life from the mouth of preachers. For those whom a like guilt associates, the same does a perverse defence also crowd together in obstinate agreement, in order that they may protect each other with mutual defence for their sins.
This site's exposition
I cannot keep silent about his limbs
on Job 41:12-21
Verse 12 opens an inventory of armor. Gill takes the bridle of verse 13 as a warhorse's gear, dressing Leviathan for battle. Delitzsch reads the snorting that “flashes with light” and the smoke “as from a boiling pot” as poetry built on the crocodile surfacing and spouting.
This site's exposition
no air can pass between them
Clarke reports that a musket ball cannot pass these scales. Gregory the Dialogist read the scales as sinners joined so close that no breath of life from the mouth of preachers can reach them.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
He shows their perverse accord in evil when he says, "One is joined to another," because as on the body of some fish each scale is not joined to the other at random but there is an order among them; so also in the crowd …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
One is so near to another, that no air can come between them.
That which is remarkable concerning the scales is that they stick so close together, by which he is not only kept warm, for no air can pierce him, but kept safe, for no sword can pierce him through those scales.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
One is so near to another - It has already been stated, that a musket-ball fired at him in any direction cannot make a passage through his scales.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אֶחָ֣ד | ʾechad | one | H259 → | 971 times |
| בְּאֶחָ֣ד | beechad | on one | H259 → | 971 times |
| יִגַּ֑שׁוּ | yigashu | they draw near | H5066 → | |
| וְ֝ר֗וּחַ | veruach | and a breath | H7307 → | 378 times |
| לֹא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יָב֥וֹא | yavo' | it goes | H935 → | 2568 times |
| בֵֽינֵיהֶֽם׃ | veineihem | between them | H996 → | 407 times |
אֶחָ֣דone
ʾechadH259 →971 times
בְּאֶחָ֣דon one
beechadH259 →971 times
יִגַּ֑שׁוּthey draw near
yigashuH5066 →
וְ֝ר֗וּחַand a breath
veruachH7307 →378 times
לֹא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
יָב֥וֹאit goes
yavo'H935 →2568 times
בֵֽינֵיהֶֽם׃between them
veineihemH996 →407 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
About Job
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXXIII; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.