Job - 41:28



28 The arrow can't make him flee. Sling stones are like chaff to him.

Verse In-Depth

Explanation and meaning of Job 41:28.

Differing Translations

Compare verses for better understanding.
The arrow cannot make him flee: slingstones are turned with him into stubble.
The arrow cannot make him flee: Sling-stones are turned with him into stubble.
The archer shall not put him to flight, the stones of the sling are to him like stubble.
The son of the bow doth not cause him to flee, Turned by him into stubble are stones of the sling.
The arrow is not able to put him to flight: stones are no more to him than dry stems.
The archer will not cause him to flee; the stones of the sling have been turned into stubble for him.

*Minor differences ignored. Grouped by changes, with first version listed as example.


Historical Commentaries

Scholarly Analysis and Interpretation.

The arrow - Hebrew "the son of the bow." So Lamentations 3:13, margin. This use of the word son is common in the Scriptures and in all Oriental poetry.
Sling-stones - The sling was early used in war and in hunting, and by skill and practice it could be so employed as to be a formidable weapon; see Judges 20:16; 1-Samuel 17:40, 1-Samuel 17:49. As one of the weapons of attack on a foe it is mentioned here, though there is no evidence that the sling was ever actually used in endeavoring to destroy the crocodile. The meaning is, that all the common weapons used by men in attacking an enemy had no effect on him.
Are turned with him into stubble - Produce no more effect on him than it would to throw stubble at him.

The arrow cannot make him flee,.... The skin of the crocodile is so hard, as Peter Martyr says, that it cannot be pierced with arrows, as before observed; therefore it is not afraid of them, nor will flee from them;
slingstones are turned with him into stubble; are no more regarded by him than if stubble was cast at him; not only stones out of a sling, but out of an engine; and such is the hardness of the skin of the crocodile, that, as Isidore says (e), the strokes of the strongest stones are rebounded by it, yea, even it is said to withstand against musket shot (f).
(e) Origin. l. 12. c. 6. (f) Mandelsloe in Harris's Voyages, &c. vol. 1. p. 759.

arrow--literally, "son of the bow"; Oriental imagery (Lamentations 3:13; Margin).
stubble--Arrows produce no more effect than it would to throw stubble at him.

Turned - Hurt him no more than a blow with a little stubble.

*More commentary available at chapter level.


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