Job 41:31
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
He makes the deep to boil like a pot: he makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
American King James Version (AKJV)
He makes the deep to boil like a pot: he makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
American Standard Version (ASV)
He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: He maketh the sea like a pot of ointment.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
The deep is boiling like a pot of spices, and the sea like a perfume-vessel.
Webster's Revision
He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like a pot of ointment.
World English Bible
He makes the deep to boil like a pot. He makes the sea like a pot of ointment.
English Revised Version (ERV)
He maketh the deep to boil like a pot: he maketh the sea like ointment.
Definitions for Job 41:31
Clarke's Job 41:31 Bible Commentary
He maketh the deep to boil like a pot - This is occasioned by strongly agitating the waters at or near the bottom; and the froth which arises to the top from this agitation may have the appearance of ointment. But several travelers say that the crocodile has a very strong scent of musk, and that he even imparts this smell to the water through which he passes, and therefore the text may be taken literally. This property of the crocodile has been noticed by several writers.
Barnes's Job 41:31 Bible Commentary
He maketh the deep to boil like a pot - In his rapid motion through it. The word "deep" (מצולה metsôlâh) may refer to any deep place - either of the sea, of a river, or of mire, Psalm 69:2. It is applied to the depths of the sea, Jonah 2:3; Micah 7:19; but there is nothing in the word that will prevent its application to a large river like the Nile - the usual abode of the crocodile.
He maketh the sea - The word "sea" (ים yâm) is often applied to a large river, like the Nile or the Euphrates; see the notes at Isaiah 19:5.
Like a pot of ointment - When it is mixed, or stirred together. Bochart supposes that there is an allusion here to the smell of musk, which it is said the crocodile has, and by which the waters through which he passes seem to be perfumed. But the allusion seems rather to be merely to the fact that the deep is agitated by him when he passes through it, as if it were stirred from the bottom like a pot of ointment.
Wesley's Job 41:31 Bible Commentary
41:31 Boil - To swell, and foam, and froth by his strong and vehement motion, as any liquor does when it is boiled in a pot, especially boiling ointment. The sea - The great river Nile, is called a sea, both in scripture, as Isaiah 11:15 , and in other authors, as Euphrates is called the sea of Babylon, Isaiah 21:1 job 41: , Jeremiah 51:36 , .Lakes also are most frequently called seas both in the Old and New Testament: and in such lakes the crocodiles are as well as in the Nile.