Job Chapter 40 verse 19 Holy Bible
He is the chief of the ways of God: He `only' that made him giveth him his sword.
read chapter 40 in ASV
Will anyone take him when he is on the watch, or put metal teeth through his nose?
read chapter 40 in BBE
He is the chief of ùGod's ways: he that made him gave him his sword.
read chapter 40 in DARBY
He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.
read chapter 40 in KJV
He taketh it with his eyes: his nose pierceth through snares.
read chapter 40 in WBT
He is the chief of the ways of God. He who made him gives him his sword.
read chapter 40 in WEB
He `is' a beginning of the ways of God, His Maker bringeth nigh his sword;
read chapter 40 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 19. - He is the chief of the ways of God. This is the main argument in favour of the elephant, rather than the hippopotamus, being intended (see Schultens, ad loc.). It has, indeed, been argued that some specimens of the hippopotamus exceed the elephant in height and bulk (Canon Cook, in the 'Speaker's Commentary,' vol. 4. p. 19); but no modern naturalist certainly would place the former animal above the latter in any catalogue raisonee of animals arranged according to their size and importance. The elephant, however, may not have been known to the author of Job, or, at any rate, the Asiatic species, which seems not to have been imported into Assyria before the middle of the ninth century B.C. In this case, the hippopotamus might well seem to him the grandest of the works of God. He that made him can make his sword to approach unto him. This is explained to mean, "Only God can attack behemoth with success and slay him; man is powerless to do so" (Canon Cook, Stanley Leathes, Revised Version). But the Egyptians, from very early times, used to attack the hippopotamus and slay him (Wilkinson, in the author's 'Herodotus,' vol. 2, p. 100). It is better, therefore, to translate the passage, with Schultens, "He that made him hath furnished him with his sword," and to understand by "his sword" those sharp teeth with which the hippopotamus is said to "cut the grass as neatly as if it were mown and to sever, as if with shears a tolerably stout and thick stem" (Wood, ' Natural History,' vol. 1. p. 762). Compare the 'Theriaca' of Nicander, 11. 566, 567 - Η ἵππου τὸν Νεῖλος ὑπὲρ Σάι'ν αἰθαλόεσσανΒόσκει ἀρούρησιν δὲ κακὴν ἐπιβάλλεται ἅρπην
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(19) He is the chief of the ways of God.--This is surely more applicable to the elephant than the hippopotamus, considering the great intelligence and usefulness of the elephant. The last clause is very obscure. Some render, "He only that made him can bring his sword near unto him;" or, "He that made him hath furnished him with his sword." Others, "He that would dress him (as meat) let him come near him with his sword !" indicating the inequality of the contest. Perhaps a combination of the first and last is best--"Let his Maker (but no one else venture to) approach him with His sword."
