Job 41:23
in Job 41The folds of his flesh are tightly joined; they are firm and immovable.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The flakes of his flesh are joined together: They are firm upon him; they cannot be moved.
KJV
The flakes of his flesh are joined together: they are firm in themselves; they cannot be moved.
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This verse in Job 41
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
The flakes of his flesh are joined together - Margin, “fallings.” The Hebrew word used here means anything “falling,” or “pendulous,” and the reference here is, probably, to the pendulous parts of the flesh of the animal; the flabby parts; the dew-laps. In animals commonly these parts about the neck and belly are soft, pendulous, and contribute little to their strength. The meaning here is, that in the leviathan, instead of being thus flabby and pendulous, they were compact and firm. This is strikingly true of the crocodile.
This site's exposition
Strength resides in his neck
on Job 41:22-29
His chest is “as hard as a rock, as hard as a lower millstone”, a doubled figure Barnes reads as courage nothing within can shake. Every weapon fails, “the spear or dart or arrow”. Clarke hears in these useless weapons an answer to Job's demand for legal means against God.
This site's exposition
The folds of his flesh
The folds of his flesh are literally its fallings, Barnes notes, parts that would hang loose. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown call them dewlaps, firm and tightly joined. Henry sets this flesh against Job's complaint in chapter 6.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
He shows then the power of the other parts of his body when he says, "the members of his flesh cling together," because of their density, which shows the consent of the members of the devil to evil. After he describes the strength of Leviathan …
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XXXIV · Written before 604.
proposed
The members of his flesh cling to each other. 8. The 'flesh' of this Leviathan are all the reprobate, who rise not in their longing to a knowledge of their spiritual country. But the 'members of his flesh' are those, who are united to these very persons, when acting wickedly, and preceding them in the way to iniquity.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
The flakes of it are joined so closely together, and are so firm, that it is hard to pierce it; he is as if he were all bone. His flesh is of brass, which Job had complained his was not, ch. vi.
The flakes of his flesh are joined together,.... The muscles of his hefty are not flaccid and flabby, but solid and firmly compacted; they are firm in themselves; they cannot be moved; that is, not very easily, not without a large sharp cutting knife, and that used with much strength.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
flakes--rather, "dewlaps"; that which falls down (Margin). They are "joined" fast and firm, together, not hanging loose, as in the ox. are firm--UMBREIT and MAURER, "are spread." in themselves--rather, "upon him."
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
The flakes of his flesh - His muscles are strongly and firmly compacted.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מַפְּלֵ֣י | mapelei | [the] hanging parts of | H4651 → | |
| בְשָׂר֣וֹ | vesaro | flesh its | H1320 → | 270 times |
| דָבֵ֑קוּ | daveku | they cling | H1692 → | 54 times |
| יָצ֥וּק | yatzuk | hard | H3332 → | 50 times |
| עָ֝לָ֗יו | ʾalav | to it | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| בַּל־ | bal- | not | H1077 → | |
| יִמּֽוֹט׃ | yimot | it is moved | H4131 → |
מַפְּלֵ֣י[the] hanging parts of
mapeleiH4651 →
בְשָׂר֣וֹflesh its
vesaroH1320 →270 times
דָבֵ֑קוּthey cling
davekuH1692 →54 times
יָצ֥וּקhard
yatzukH3332 →50 times
עָ֝לָ֗יוto it
ʾalavH5921 →5755 times
בַּל־not
bal-H1077 →
יִמּֽוֹט׃it is moved
yimotH4131 →
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; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXXIV; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.