Job 41:11-13

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Job 41:11 tn The verb קָדַם (qadam) means “to come to meet; to come before; to confront” to the face.
2. Job 41:11 sn The verse seems an intrusion (and so E. Dhorme, H. H. Rowley, and many others change the pronouns to make it refer to the animal). But what the text is saying is that it is more dangerous to confront God than to confront this animal.
3. Job 41:11 tn This line also focuses on the sovereign God rather than Leviathan. H. H. Rowley, however, wants to change לִי־חוּא (li huʾ, “it [belongs] to me”) into לֹא הוּא (loʾ huʾ, “there is no one”). So it would say that there is no one under the whole heaven who could challenge Leviathan and live, rather than saying it is more dangerous to challenge God to make him repay.
4. Job 41:12 tn Dhorme changes the noun into a verb, “I will tell,” and the last two words into אֵין עֶרֶךְ (ʾen ʿerekh, “there is no comparison”). The result is “I will tell of his incomparable might.”
5. Job 41:13 tn Heb “the face of his garment,” referring to the outer garment or covering. Some take it to be the front as opposed to the back.
6. Job 41:13 tc The word רֶסֶן (resen) has often been rendered “bridle” (cf. ESV), but that leaves a number of unanswered questions. The LXX reads סִרְיוֹן (siryon), with the transposition of letters, but that means “coat of armor.” If the metathesis stands, there is also support from the cognate Akkadian.