Job 41:24
in Job 41His chest is as hard as a rock, as hard as a lower millstone!
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
His heart is as firm as a stone; Yea, firm as the nether millstone.
KJV
His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone.
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This verse in Job 41
Commentary
10 notes on this verseHis heart shall be hardened as a stone, and he will be bound as the anvil of the hammerer. 11. For the heart of the ancient enemy will be hardened as a stone, because it will never be softened by any penitence of conversion. And because he will be fitted only for the blows of eternal punishment, it is rightly immediately added; And he will be bound as the anvil of the hammerer. For the hammerer puts up an anvil fitted to receive blows only. For an anvil is erected for the very purpose of being struck with frequent blows.
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
as hard as a lower millstone
Older versions call the chest his heart. Bochart, cited by Barnes, took it literally, and Gill as courage. The lower millstone, on which the upper turns, is especially hard, as hard as a rock.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
Second, he shows the reaction of Leviathan to what God does against him, when he says, "His heart will be hardened like stone." Hardness describes a natural power which is not easily corrupted by an exterior agent. This verse shows the natural power of the …
A commentator
BonaventureCollationes de Septem Donis, Collation 2 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
The third judgment of God is the judgment of obstinacy, namely when the heart of man can be softened neither by promises nor by threats nor by scourges nor by torments. Of such a one it is said: "His heart shall be hardened as a …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone. Which must be understood not of the substance but of the qualities of it, being bold, courageous, undaunted, and unmerciful; which is true both of the whale and crocodile, and particularly of the crocodile: Aelianus (z) relates of one sort of them that they are unmerciful, though elsewhere (a), he represents them as fearful. (z) De Animal. l. 12. c. 41. (a) Ibid. l. 10. c. 24.
He has spirit equal to his bodily strength, and, though he is bulky, he is sprightly, and not unwieldy. As his flesh and skin cannot be pierced, so his courage cannot be daunted; but, on the contrary, he daunts all he meets and puts them into a consternation (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
His heart is as firm as a stone - As hard; as solid. Bochart remarks that the word “heart” here is not to be regarded as denoting the “courage” of the animal, as it sometimes does, but the heart literally. The statement occurs in the description of the various parts of the animal, and the object is to show that there was special firmness or solidity in every one of his members.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
heart--"In large beasts which are less acute in feeling, there is great firmness of the heart, and slower motion" [BOCHART]. The nether millstone, on which the upper turns, is especially hard.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
Hard as a piece of the nether millstone - Which is required to be harder than that which runs above.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לִ֭בּוֹ | libo | heart its | H3820 → | 595 times |
| יָצ֣וּק | yatzuk | [is] hard | H3332 → | 50 times |
| כְּמוֹ־ | kemov- | like | H3644 → | 143 times |
| אָ֑בֶן | ʾaven | a stone | H68 → | 273 times |
| וְ֝יָצ֗וּק | veyatzuk | and hard | H3332 → | 50 times |
| כְּפֶ֣לַח | kefelach | like a mill-stone | H6400 → | |
| תַּחְתִּֽית׃ | tachtit | lower | H8482 → |
לִ֭בּוֹheart its
liboH3820 →595 times
יָצ֣וּק[is] hard
yatzukH3332 →50 times
כְּמוֹ־like
kemov-H3644 →143 times
אָ֑בֶןa stone
ʾavenH68 →273 times
וְ֝יָצ֗וּקand hard
veyatzukH3332 →50 times
כְּפֶ֣לַחlike a mill-stone
kefelachH6400 →
תַּחְתִּֽית׃lower
tachtitH8482 →
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
Isaiah 48:4For I knew that you are stubborn; your neck is iron and your forehead is bronze.
it leads to
- Acts 7:51
You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.
- Exodus 32:9
The LORD also said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked people.
- Zechariah 7:11–12
But they refused to pay attention and turned a stubborn shoulder; they stopped up their ears from hearing.
- Proverbs 29:1
A man who remains stiff-necked after much reproof will suddenly be shattered beyond recovery.
- Ezekiel 3:4–9
Then He said to me, “Son of man, go now to the house of Israel and speak My words to them.
- Acts 7:51
Through
Zechariah 7:12They made their hearts like flint and would not listen to the law or to the words that the LORD of Hosts had sent by His Spirit through the earlier prophets. Therefore great anger…
it leads to
- 2 Chronicles 36:16
But they mocked the messengers of God, despising His words and scoffing at His prophets, until the wrath of the LORD against His people was stirred up beyond remedy.
- Ezekiel 11:19
And I will give them singleness of heart and put a new spirit within them; I will remove their heart of stone and give them a heart of flesh,
- Nehemiah 9:29–30
You admonished them to turn back to Your law, but they were arrogant and disobeyed Your commandments. They sinned against Your ordinances, by which a man will live if he practices them. They stubbornly…
- 2 Chronicles 36:16
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 on the Book of Job; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bonaventure, Collationes de Septem Donis, Collation 2; 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.