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Job 40:19-21
New English Translation
Job 40:19-21
New English Translation
19 It ranks first among the works of God,[a]
the One who made it
has furnished it with a sword.[b]
20 For the hills bring it food,[c]
where all the wild animals play.
21 Under the lotus trees it lies,
in the secrecy of the reeds and the marsh.
Footnotes
- Job 40:19 tn Heb “the ways of God.”sn This may be a reference to Gen 1:24, where the first of the animal creation was the cattle—behemah (בְּהֵמָה).
- Job 40:19 tc The literal reading of the MT is “let the one who made him draw near [with] his sword.” The sword is apparently a reference to the teeth or tusks of the animal, which cut vegetation like a sword. But the idea of a weapon is easier to see, and so the people who favor the mythological background see here a reference to God’s slaying the Beast. There are again many suggestions on how to read the line. The RV probably has the safest: “He that made him has furnished him with his sword” (the sword being a reference to the sharp tusks with which he can attack).
- Job 40:20 tn The word בּוּל (bul) probably refers to food. Many take it as an abbreviated form of יְבוּל (yevul, “produce of the field”). The vegetation that is produced on the low hills is what is meant.
New English Translation (NET)
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