Job 41:32
in Job 41He leaves a glistening wake behind him; one would think the deep had white hair!
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
He maketh a path to shine after him; One would think the deep to be hoary.
KJV
He maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary.
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This verse in Job 41
Commentary
8 notes on this verseA path will shine after him. He will esteem the deep as growing old. 33. For a 'path' is said to shine after Leviathan, because wherever he passes along, he leaves behind him great astonishment from the brightness of his miracles, and wherever he goes forth, either by himself or by his ministers, he glitters with lying wonders.
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
He leaves a glistening wake behind him
Barnes takes the glistening wake as white foam. Clarke adds the sparks of light a fast ship stirs up at night, which he watched from the stern. Gill offers foam or the oil a whale leaves behind.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Just as he produces a great effect when he moves about in the depths of the sea, so also he causes a great effect when he moves about on the surface. To indicate this he says, "His wake will shine behind him." For just as …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
He maketh a path to shine after him,.... Upon the sea, by raising a white from upon it, through its vehement motion as it passes along, or by the spermaceti it casts out and leaves behind it.
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.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
He maketh a path to shine after him - In certain states of the weather a rapid motion through the water disengages many sparks of phosphoric fire. I have seen this at sea; once particularly, on a fine clear night, with a good breeze, in a fast-sailing vessel, I leaned over the stern, and watched this phenomenon for hours.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
He maketh a path to shine after him - This refers doubtless to the white foam of the waters through which he passes. If this were spoken of some monster that commonly resides in the ocean, it would not be unnatural to suppose that it refers to the phosphoric light such as is observed when the waters are agitated, or when a vessel passes rapidly through them. If it refers, however, to the crocodile, the allusion must be understood of the hoary appearance of the Nile or the lake where he is found. One would think the deep to be hoary - Homer often speaks of the sea as πολιὴν θάλασσαν poliēn thalassan - “the hoary sea.” So Apollonius, speaking of the Argonauts, Lib. i. 545: - μακραὶ δ ̓ αἰὲν ἐλευκαίνοντο κέλευθοι - - makrai d' aien eleukainonto keleuthoi - “The long paths were always white” So Catullus, in Epith. Pelei: Totaque remigio spumis incanuit unda. And Ovid, Epis. Oeno: - remis eruta canet aqua. The rapid motion of an aquatic animal through the water will produce the effect here referred to.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אַ֭חֲרָיו | ʾacharav | behind it | H310 → | 715 times |
| יָאִ֣יר | yair | it makes shine | H215 → | |
| נָתִ֑יב | nativ | a path | H5410 → | 26 times |
| יַחְשֹׁ֖ב | yachsho | anyone considers | H2803 → | 124 times |
| תְּה֣וֹם | tehom | [the] deep | H8415 → | 36 times |
| לְשֵׂיבָֽה׃ | leseivah | to grey hair | H7872 → |
אַ֭חֲרָיוbehind it
ʾacharavH310 →715 times
יָאִ֣ירit makes shine
yairH215 →
נָתִ֑יבa path
nativH5410 →26 times
יַחְשֹׁ֖בanyone considers
yachshoH2803 →124 times
תְּה֣וֹם[the] deep
tehomH8415 →36 times
לְשֵׂיבָֽה׃to grey hair
leseivahH7872 →
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
Proverbs 16:31Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is attained along the path of righteousness.
it leads to
- Leviticus 19:32
You are to rise in the presence of the elderly, honor the aged, and fear your God. I am the LORD.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Proverbs 20:29
The glory of young men is their strength, and gray hair is the splendor of the old.
- Proverbs 3:1–2
My son, do not forget my teaching, but let your heart keep my commandments;
- Proverbs 17:6
Grandchildren are the crown of the aged, and the glory of a son is his father.
- 1 Samuel 12:2–5
Now here is the king walking before you, and I am old and gray, and my sons are here with you. I have walked before you from my youth until this day.
- Leviticus 19:32
Through
Proverbs 20:29The glory of young men is their strength, and gray hair is the splendor of the old.
it leads to
- 1 John 2:14
I have written to you, fathers, because you know Him who is from the beginning. I have written to you, young men, because you are strong, and the word of God abides in you,…
- Proverbs 16:31
Gray hair is a crown of glory; it is attained along the path of righteousness.
- Jeremiah 9:23–24
This is what the LORD says: “Let not the wise man boast in his wisdom, nor the strong man in his strength, nor the wealthy man in his riches.
- 1 John 2:14
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); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXXIV; 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.