Job 41:6
in Job 41Will traders barter for him or divide him among the merchants?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Will the bands of fishermen make traffic of him? Will they part him among the merchants?
KJV
Shall the companions make a banquet of him? shall they part him among the merchants?
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This verse in Job 41
Commentary
8 notes on this verseShall thy companions make a banquet - Canst thou and thy friends feast on him as ye were wont to do on a camel sacrificed for this purpose? Or, canst thou dispose of his flesh to the merchants - to buyers, as thou wouldst do that of a camel or an ox? It is certain, according to Herodotus, lib. ii. c. 70, that they killed and ate crocodiles at Apollonople and Elephantis, in Egypt.
This site's exposition
Can you pet him like a bird
on Job 41:5-8
God asks whether Job can keep Leviathan as a pet. Henry reads this string of questions as building toward the warning of verse 8. Clarke takes “you will remember the battle and never repeat it” as blunt counsel, that one encounter with this creature settles the question for good.
This site's exposition
divide him among the merchants
Traders who barter for him may be partners in fishing, and the merchants who divide him are literally Canaanites, as Jamieson, Fausset and Brown note. Clarke asks whether his flesh could be sold like an ox's.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
After he has shown that he cannot be subjected by the method by which animals are subjected, he shows consequently that man cannot use him, even if he were subjected by the method by which he uses other large animals when they are given into …
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XXXIII · Written before 604.
proposed
His friends shall cut him in pieces; the merchants shall divide him. 33. This Leviathan is cut in pieces, as often as his members are severed from him by the sword of the Divine Word. For when wicked men hear the word of truth, and, smitten with holy fear, suspend their imitation of the ancient enemy, he, from whom those who wickedly adhered to him are withdrawn, is himself divided in his own body. But He terms those His 'friends,' whom before He calls 'maidens,' those also He calls 'merchants,' whom He had termed 'friends.'
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Shall thy companions make a banquet of him?....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
Rather, "partners" (namely, in fishing). make a banquet--The parallelism rather supports UMBREIT, "Do partners (in trade) desire to purchase him?" So the Hebrew (De 2:6). merchants--literally, "Canaanites," who were great merchants (Ho 12:7, Margin).
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Shall thy companions make a banquet of him? - This is one of the “vexed passages” about which there has been much difference of opinion. Gesenius renders it, “Do the companions (“i. e.” the fishermen in company) lay snares for him?” So Noyes renders it. Dr. Harris translates it, “Shall thy partners spread a banquet for him?” The Septuagint renders it, “Do the nations feed upon him?” The Vulgate, “Will friends cut him up?” that is, for a banquet. Rosenmuller renders it, “Will friends feast upon him?” The word rendered “thy companions” (חברים chabbâriym) means properly those joined or associated together for any purpose, whether for friendship or for business. It may refer here either to those associated for the purpose of fishing or feasting. The word “thy” is improperly introduced by our translators, and there is no evidence that the reference is to the companions or friends of Job, as that would seem to suppose. The word rendered “make a banquet” (יכרוּ yikârû) is from כרה kârâh, “to dig,” and then to make a plot or device against one - derived from the fact that a “pitfall” was dug to take animals (Psa 7:15; Psa 57:6; compare Job 6:27); and according to this it means, “Do the companions, “i. e.” the fishermen in company, lay snares for him?” The word, however, has another signification, meaning to buy, to purchase, and also to give a feast, to make a banquet, perhaps from the idea of “purchasing” the provisions necessary for a banquet. According to this, the meaning is, “Do the companions, “i. e.” those associated for the purpose of feasting, make a banquet of him?” Which is the true sense here it is not easy to determine. The majority of versions incline to the idea that it refers to a feast, and means that those associated for eating do not make a part of their entertainment of him. […]
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יִכְר֣וּ | yikhru | will they bargain? | H3739 → | |
| עָ֭לָיו | ʾalav | on it | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| חַבָּרִ֑ים | chabarim | partners | H2271 → | |
| יֶ֝חֱצ֗וּהוּ | yechetzuhu | will they divide? it | H2673 → | |
| בֵּ֣ין | bein | between | H996 → | 407 times |
| כְּֽנַעֲנִֽים׃ | kenaanim | merchants | H3669 → |
יִכְר֣וּwill they bargain?
yikhruH3739 →
עָ֭לָיוon it
ʾalavH5921 →5755 times
חַבָּרִ֑יםpartners
chabarimH2271 →
יֶ֝חֱצ֗וּהוּwill they divide? it
yechetzuhuH2673 →
בֵּ֣יןbetween
beinH996 →407 times
כְּֽנַעֲנִֽים׃merchants
kenaanimH3669 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
4 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
Judges 14:11And when the Philistines saw him, they selected thirty men to accompany him.
it leads to
- John 3:29
The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom stands and listens for him, and is overjoyed to hear the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete.
- Matthew 9:15
Jesus replied, “How can the guests of the bridegroom mourn while He is with them? But the time will come when the bridegroom will be taken from them; then they will fast.
- 1 Samuel 10:23
So they ran and brought Saul, and when he stood among the people, he was a head taller than any of the others.
- 1 Samuel 16:6
When they arrived, Samuel saw Eliab and said, “Surely here before the LORD is His anointed.”
- John 3:29
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); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXXIII; 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.
