Job 41:31
in Job 41He makes the depths seethe like a cauldron; he makes the sea like a jar of ointment.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: He maketh the sea like a pot of ointment.
KJV
He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment.
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This verse in Job 41
Commentary
11 notes on this verseHe will make the deep sea to boil like a pot. He will make it as when ointments boil. 31. What is expressed by the 'sea' but the life of the worldly, what by the 'deep' ['profundum'] but their deep and hidden thoughts? And this deep sea this Leviathan makes to boil like a pot, because it is doubtless quite plain, that in the time of the last persecution he studies to excite the minds of the reprobate against the life of the Elect by the flame of cruelty.
This site's exposition
His undersides are jagged potsherds
on Job 41:30-32
He “makes the depths seethe like a cauldron”. Delitzsch reads the “glistening wake”, as if “the deep had white hair”, as an honest picture of a wake cut through water at night. Gill takes it as the trail any great creature leaves, drawn at its largest scale.
This site's exposition
makes the depths seethe like a cauldron
Gill thinks the seething sea suits the whale, for the crocodile keeps to the Nile. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown take the sea as the Nile, as at Isaiah 19:5, and the jar of ointment as the crocodile's musky smell. The readings divide.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Therefore, after he proves that Leviathan cannot be overcome by man, God shows next that he cannot be overcome by the sea or any fish in the sea, because of the strong action which he does in the sea. Pliny says that "some animals in …
The Puritans and the Awakening4 voices
He maketh the deep to boil (k) like a pot,.... Which is all in a from through the violent agitation and motion of the waves, caused by its tossing and tumbling about; which better suits with the whale than the crocodile, whose motion in the water is not so vehement; he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment; this also seems to make against the crocodile, which is a river fish, and is chiefly in the Nile.
), which the crocodile is not; and Ps. civ. 25, 26 , there in the great and wide sea, is that leviathan. He shows how unable Job was to master the leviathan.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
Boil - To swell, and foam, and froth by his strong and vehement motion, as any liquor does when it is boiled in a pot, especially boiling ointment. The sea - The great river Nile, is called a sea, both in scripture, as Isaiah xi, 15, and in other authors, as Euphrates is called the sea of Babylon, Isaiah xxi, 1 Jer. li, 36.
When he rolls, and tosses, and makes a stir in the water, or is in pursuit of his prey, he makes the deep to boil like a pot, he raises a great froth and foam upon the water, such as is upon a boiling pot, especially a pot of boiling ointment; and he makes a path to shine after him, which even a ship in the midst of the sea does not, Prov. xxx.
3 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Whenever he moves. sea--the Nile (Isa 19:5; Na 3:8). pot of ointment--the vessel in which it is mixed. Appropriate to the crocodile, which emits a musky smell.
He maketh the deep to boil like a pot - This is occasioned by strongly agitating the waters at or near the bottom; and the froth which arises to the top from this agitation may have the appearance of ointment. But several travelers say that the crocodile has a very strong scent of musk, and that he even imparts this smell to the water through which he passes, and therefore the text may be taken literally. This property of the crocodile has been noticed by several writers.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
He maketh the deep to boil like a pot - In his rapid motion through it. The word “deep” (מצולה metsôlâh) may refer to any deep place - either of the sea, of a river, or of mire, Psa 69:2. It is applied to the depths of the sea, Jon 2:3; Mic 7:19; but there is nothing in the word that will prevent its application to a large river like the Nile - the usual abode of the crocodile.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יַרְתִּ֣יחַ | yartiach | it makes boil | H7570 → | |
| כַּסִּ֣יר | kasir | like <the> pot | H5518 → | |
| מְצוּלָ֑ה | metzulah | [the] deep | H4688 → | |
| יָ֝֗ם | yam | [the] sea | H3220 → | 396 times |
| יָשִׂ֥ים | yasim | it makes | H7760 → | 584 times |
| כַּמֶּרְקָחָֽה׃ | kamerkachah | like <the> pot of ointment | H4841 → |
יַרְתִּ֣יחַit makes boil
yartiachH7570 →
כַּסִּ֣ירlike <the> pot
kasirH5518 →
מְצוּלָ֑ה[the] deep
metzulahH4688 →
יָ֝֗ם[the] sea
yamH3220 →396 times
יָשִׂ֥יםit makes
yasimH7760 →584 times
כַּמֶּרְקָחָֽה׃like <the> pot of ointment
kamerkachahH4841 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
About Job
This page draws on 10 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); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary 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; 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.