Job 40:18

Job 40:18

His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron.

a. ASV: His bones are as tubes of brass; His limbs are like bars of iron.  [Thomas Nelson & Sons first published the American Standard Version in 1901. This translation of the Bible is in the public domain.]

b. YLT:  His bones are tubes of brass, His bones are as a bar of iron.  [The Young's Literal Translation was translated by Robert Young, who believed in a strictly literal translation of God's word. This version of the Bible is in the public domain.]

c. Classic Amplified: His bones are like tubes of bronze; his limbs [or ribs] are like bars of iron.  [Amplified Bible, Classic Edition (AMPC) Copyright © 1954, 1958, 1962, 1964, 1965, 1987 by The Lockman Foundation]

d. Stone Edition Torah/Prophets/Writings: His bones have the strength of copper; his limbs are like an iron weight.  [The Artscroll Series/Stone Edition, THE TANACH--STUDENT SIZE EDITION Copyright 1996, 1998 by Mesorah Publications, Ltd.]

e. ESV: His bones are tubes of bronze, his limbs like bars of iron. [Scripture quotations are from the Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001, 2007, 2011, 2016 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.]

1. “His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron.”

a. [His] bones [Strong: 6106 ʻetsem, eh'tsem; from H6105; a bone (as strong); by extension, the body; figuratively, the substance, i.e. (as pronoun) selfsame:—body, bone, × life, (self-) same, strength, × very.]

b. [are as] strong [Strong: 650 ʼâphîyq, aw-feek'; from H622; properly, containing, i.e. a tube; also a bed or valley of a stream; also a strong thing or a hero:—brook, channel, mighty, river, scale, stream, strong piece.]

c. pieces of brass [Strong: 5154 nᵉchûwshâh, nekh-oo-shaw'; or נְחֻשָׁה nᵉchushâh; feminine of H5153; copper:—brass, steel.]

d. [his] bones [Strong: 1634 gerem, gheh'-rem; from H1633; a bone (as the skeleton of the body); hence, self, i.e. (figuratively) very:—bone, strong, top.]

e. [are like] bars [Strong: 4300 mᵉṭîyl, met-eel'; from H2904 in the sense of hammering out; an iron bar (as forged):—bar.]

f. [of] iron [Strong: 1270 barzel, bar-zel'; perhaps from the root of H1269; iron (as cutting); by extension, an iron implement:—(ax) head, iron.]

1). Institute of Creation Research Days of Praise 4/6/2017: As God responded to Job, He spent an unusual amount of time referring to animals Job would be familiar with—lions, goats, unicorns (probably the aurochs or wild ox), peacocks, the ostrich, the horse, hawks, and eagles, all within 33 verses. Then, as though Job needed to pay special attention, God took 44 verses to talk about two animals—behemoth (Job 40:15-24) and leviathan (Job 41:1-34)—citing the behavior and descriptions of these very large animals. Why the interest? Why should it matter? To begin with, behemoth was “made with thee.” Whatever it was, it was created at the same time as man. Behemoth was an enormous animal that “moveth his tail like a cedar” and had bones like “strong pieces of bronze” and “bars of iron.” Behemoth was “the chief of the ways of God; only he that made him can make his sword to approach him.” This animal illustrates something of the enormous power of the Creator and gives evidence that only God could control it (Job 40:15-19). Today, with only fossil bones to give some idea of the enormity of this animal, science would likely call behemoth an Apatosaurus. This creature really lived in the past. The fossils indicate it was between 70 and 90 feet long and nearly 15 feet high at the hips. The tail was about 50 feet long (remember the cedar tree), and it had peg-like teeth that suggest its diet was plants. The legs were like columns. Estimates suggest that the animal weighed around 35 tons. With this much known evidence, it is sad to see the notes in the margins of many Bibles insisting that the behemoth was either an elephant or a hippopotamus. Perhaps these “scoffers” are “willingly ignorant” (2 Peter 3:3-5). HMM III

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