Ayub 41:16-19

41:16 each one is so close to the next ¹ 

that no air can come between them.

41:17 They lock tightly together, one to the next; ² 

they cling together and cannot be separated.

41:18 Its snorting throws out flashes of light;

its eyes are like the red glow ³  of dawn.

41:19 Out of its mouth go flames, ⁴ 

sparks of fire shoot forth!

Ayub 41:21

41:21 Its breath sets coals ablaze

and a flame shoots from its mouth.

Ayub 41:23

41:23 The folds ⁵  of its flesh are tightly joined;

they are firm on it, immovable. ⁶ 

Ayub 41:29

41:29 A club is counted ⁷  as a piece of straw;

it laughs at the rattling of the lance.

[41:16]  ¹ tn The expression “each one…to the next” is literally “one with one.”

[41:17]  ² tn Heb “a man with his brother.”

[41:18]  ³ tn Heb “the eyelids,” but it represents the early beams of the dawn as the cover of night lifts.

[41:19]  ⁴ sn For the animal, the image is that of pent-up breath with water in a hot steam jet coming from its mouth, like a stream of fire in the rays of the sun. The language is hyperbolic, probably to reflect the pagan ideas of the dragon of the deep in a polemical way – they feared it as a fire breathing monster, but in reality it might have been a steamy crocodile.

[41:23]  ⁵ tn Heb “fallings.”

[41:23]  ⁶ tn The last clause says “it cannot be moved.” But this part will function adverbially in the sentence.

[41:29]  ⁷ tn The verb is plural, but since there is no expressed subject it is translated as a passive here.