Job 41:8
in Job 41If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the battle and never repeat it!
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Lay thy hand upon him; Remember the battle, and do so no more.
KJV
Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more.
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This verse in Job 41
Commentary
9 notes on this verse["And all the ships come together would not be able to bear the mere skin of his tail."] All the ships come together are not capable to mortify the extreme and main parts of the dragon. People using bodies or ships cannot by themselves lift a single piece of the skin of his tail. But with the favor of divine virtue, they can bear not only a piece of the skin of his tail but also his entire body, and [they can] mortify it.
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
you will remember the battle
Once you lay a hand on him, Clarke warns, the first blow must strike home. A miss means death and no chance to repeat it. Henry hears a warning to Job to remember how such a battle ends.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XXXIII · Written before 604.
proposed
Wilt thou lay thine hand upon him? Remember the battle, and speak no more. As if it were openly said, wilt thou restrain him with thine own strength?
After he has shown that man cannot overcome the devil in any way by his own power, he says as a conclusion to all he has said, "Put your hand over him," ("if you can" is implied) as if to say: You cannot put your …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Lay thine hand upon him,.... If thou canst or darest. It is dangerous so to do, either to the whale or crocodile; remember the battle; or "look for war", as Mr. Broughton renders it; expect a fight will ensue, in which thou wilt have no share with this creature: do no more; if thou canst by any means escape, take care never to do the like again; or thou wilt never do so any more, thou wilt certainly die for it.
Job is hereby admonished not to proceed in his controversy with God, but to make his peace with him, remembering what the battle will certainly end in if he come to an engagement. Thence he infers how unable he was to contend with the Almighty. None is so fierce, none so fool-hardy, that he dares to stir up the leviathan (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Lay thine hand upon him? - Mr. Heath translates, “Be sure thou strike home. Mind thy blow: rely not upon a second stroke.” Mr. Good translates: - “Make ready thy hand against him. Dare the contest: be firm.” He is a dangerous animal; when thou attackest him, be sure of thy advantage; if thou miss, thou art ruined. Depend not on other advantages, if thou miss the first. Kill him at once, or he will kill thee.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Lay thine hand upon him - Prof. Lee renders this, very improperly, as it seems to me, “Lay thine hand on thy mouth respecting him,” supposing it means that he should be awed into silence by dread of the animal referred to. But the meaning of the passage evidently is, “Endeavor to seize him by laying the hand on him, and you will soon desist from the fearful conflict, and will not renew it.” Remember the battle - Remember what a fearful conflict will ensue. Perhaps there is an allusion to some fact fresh in the mind of Job, where such an attempt had been made to secure the leviathan, attended with fearful disaster to those who had made the attempt. Do no more - Or, rather, “Thou wilt not do it again.” That is, he would be deterred from ever renewing the attempt, or the conflict would be fatal to him.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| שִׂים־ | sim- | put | H7760 → | 584 times |
| עָלָ֥יו | ʾalav | on it | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| כַּפֶּ֑ךָ | kapekha | hands your | H3709 → | 192 times |
| זְכֹ֥ר | zekhor | remember | H2142 → | 230 times |
| מִ֝לְחָמָ֗ה | milchamah | [the] battle | H4421 → | 320 times |
| אַל־ | ʾal- | may not | H408 → | 724 times |
| תּוֹסַֽף׃ | tosaf | you repeat | H3254 → | 212 times |
שִׂים־put
sim-H7760 →584 times
עָלָ֥יוon it
ʾalavH5921 →5755 times
כַּפֶּ֑ךָhands your
kapekhaH3709 →192 times
זְכֹ֥רremember
zekhorH2142 →230 times
מִ֝לְחָמָ֗ה[the] battle
milchamahH4421 →320 times
אַל־may not
ʾal-H408 →724 times
תּוֹסַֽף׃you repeat
tosafH3254 →212 times
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
1 Kings 20:11And the king of Israel replied, “Tell him: ‘The one putting on his armor should not boast like one taking it off.’”
it leads to
- Proverbs 27:1
Do not boast about tomorrow, for you do not know what a day may bring.
- 1 Samuel 17:44–47
“Come here,” he called to David, “and I will give your flesh to the birds of the air and the beasts of the field!”
- Isaiah 10:15–16
Does an axe raise itself above the one who swings it? Does a saw boast over him who saws with it? It would be like a rod waving the one who lifts it, or…
- Ecclesiastes 9:11
I saw something else under the sun: The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong; neither is the bread to the wise, nor the wealth to the intelligent, nor…
- Proverbs 27:1
Through
2 Kings 10:4But they were terrified and reasoned, “If two kings could not stand against him, how can we?”
it leads to
- 2 Kings 9:27
When King Ahaziah of Judah saw this, he fled up the road toward Beth-haggan. And Jehu pursued him, shouting, “Shoot him too!” So they shot Ahaziah in his chariot on the Ascent of Gur,…
- 2 Kings 9:24
Then Jehu drew his bow and shot Joram between the shoulders. The arrow pierced his heart, and he slumped down in his chariot.
- Isaiah 27:4
I am not angry. If only thorns and briers confronted Me, I would march and trample them, I would burn them to the ground.
- Luke 14:31
Or what king on his way to war with another king will not first sit down and consider whether he can engage with ten thousand men the one coming against him with twenty thousand?
- 2 Kings 9:27
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; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible; Origen of Alexandria, FRAGMENTS ON JOB 28.85 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.