Job 41:25
in Job 41When Leviathan rises up, the mighty are terrified; they withdraw before his thrashing.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
When he raiseth himself up, the mighty are afraid: By reason of consternation they are beside themselves.
KJV
When he raiseth up himself, the mighty are afraid: by reason of breakings they purify themselves.
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This verse in Job 41
Commentary
10 notes on this verseWhen he shall be taken away, the angels shall fear, and being affrighted shall be purified. 12. Holy Scripture often so mixes up past and future times, as sometimes to use the future for the past, sometimes the past for the future.
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 mighty are terrified
When Leviathan rises, older versions have the mighty purify themselves, and Wesley read that as the terrified crying out. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read that they withdraw in bewildered flight. Henry sees the mighty terrified for their ships.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Third, he shows the final effect of the divine striking. For though he seems to resist every kind of divine scourges, he still must finally be overcome by them, and so he says, "When he will fall," by divine power from his place, "the angels …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Mighty - Even the stout- hearted. Breakings - By reason of their great danger and distress; which is expressed by this very word, Psalm lx, 2 Jonah ii, 4. Purify - Those who ordinarily live in the neglect of God, they cry unto God in their trouble, and endeavour to purge their consciences from the guilt of their sins.
): When he raises up himself like a moving mountain in the great waters even the mighty are afraid lest he should overturn their ships or do them some other mischief. By reason of the breakings he makes in the water, which threaten death, they purify themselves, confess their sins, betake themselves to their prayers, and get ready for death.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
When he raiseth up himself,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
he--the crocodile; a type of the awe which the Creator inspires when He rises in wrath. breakings--namely, of the mind, that is, terror. purify themselves--rather, "they wander from the way," that is, flee away bewildered [MAURER and UMBREIT].
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
By reason of breakings they purify themselves - No version, either ancient or modern, appears to have understood this verse; nor is its true sense known. The Septuagint have, “When he turns himself, he terrifies all the quadrupeds on the earth.” The original is short and obscure: משברים יתחטאו mishshebarim yithchattau. Mr. Good takes the plural termination ים im, from the first word, of which he makes the noun ים yam, the sea, and thus translates it, “They are confounded at the tumult of the sea.” In this I can find no more light than in our own. Mr. Heath has, “For very terror they fall to the ground.” The translations of it are as unsatisfactory as they are various. I shall give both the verses from Coverdale: - His herte is as harde as a stone; and as fast as the stythye (anvil) that the hammer man smyteth upon: when he goeth the mightiest off all are afrayed, and the waives hevy. The dull swell in the waters proclaims his advance; and when this is perceived, the stout-hearted tremble.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
When he raiseth up himself - When he rouses himself for an attack or in self-defense. The mighty are afraid - The Vulgate renders this “anqels.” The meaning is, that he produces alarm on those who are unaccustomed to fear. By reason of breakings they purify themselves - This, though a literal translation, conveys no very clear idea, and this rendering is not necessary.
The words behind it
5 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מִ֭שֵּׂתוֹ | miseto | from uprising its | H7613 → | 14 times |
| יָג֣וּרוּ | yaguru | they are afraid | H1481 → | 97 times |
| אֵלִ֑ים | ʾelim | mighty ones | H410 → | 241 times |
| מִ֝שְּׁבָרִ֗ים | mishevarim | from crashing<s> | H7667 → | |
| יִתְחַטָּֽאוּ׃ | yitchatau | they are bewildered | H2398 → | 238 times |
מִ֭שֵּׂתוֹfrom uprising its
misetoH7613 →14 times
יָג֣וּרוּthey are afraid
yaguruH1481 →97 times
אֵלִ֑יםmighty ones
ʾelimH410 →241 times
מִ֝שְּׁבָרִ֗יםfrom crashing<s>
mishevarimH7667 →
יִתְחַטָּֽאוּ׃they are bewildered
yitchatauH2398 →238 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
5 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 107:28Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He brought them out of their distress.
it leads to
- Matthew 8:25
The disciples went and woke Him, saying, “Lord, save us! We are perishing!”
- Psalms 107:13
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He saved them from their distress.
- Psalms 107:19
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He saved them from their distress.
- Psalms 107:6
Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble, and He delivered them from their distress.
- Acts 27:23–25
For just last night an angel of God, whose I am and whom I serve, stood beside me
- Matthew 8:25
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); 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); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.