Limitless Word
One is so near to another, that no air can come between them.
Job 41:16 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV One is so near to another, that no air can come between them.
  • BSB One scale is so near to another that no air can pass between them.
  • NKJV One is so near another That no air can come between them;
  • NASB “One is so close to another That no air can come between them.
  • NLT They are so close together that no air can get between them.

Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org

Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Quick answer

Leviathan's scales are so close that no air can pass between them. The seamless armor shows the perfection of God's design.

Overview

The scales lie so tightly together that not even air can slip between. This image of flawless, sealed armor underscores the creature's invulnerability and the Creator's precision. Such design lies wholly beyond human ability to imagine or make. The passage continues to magnify God's power and wisdom, humbling Job before the Maker of so formidable a creature.

Cross-references & the web

No cross-references recorded for this verse.

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Job videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Job 41:16YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JobMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

Christ at the center

Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.

How Job 41:16 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.

Original language

Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.