Strength dwells in his neck, And sorrow dances before him.
Parallel translations
- WEB There is strength in his neck. Terror dances before him.
- KJV In his neck remaineth strength, and sorrow is turned into joy before him.
- BSB Strength resides in his neck, and dismay leaps before him.
- NASB “In his neck dwells strength, And dismay leaps before him.
- NLT “The tremendous strength in Leviathan’s neck strikes terror wherever it goes.
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
Strength resides in Leviathan's neck, and terror goes before him. His very presence strikes dread.
Overview
God notes the great strength in Leviathan's neck and the terror that dances before him wherever he goes. The creature inspires dread by his mere approach. Such fearsome power belongs to a creature God made and rules. The portrait keeps magnifying the Creator's supremacy, leading Job to recognize how small and dependent he is before the Lord of all.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Job 40:16Look now, his strength is in his thighs. His force is in the muscles of his belly.
- Job 39:19“Have you given the horse might? Have you clothed his neck with a quivering mane?
- Hos 13:14I will ransom them from the power of Sheol. I will redeem them from death! Death, where are your plagues? Sheol, where is your destruction? “Compassion will be hidden from my eyes.
- 1 Cor 15:55–57“Death, where is your sting? Hades, where is your victory?”
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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 41:22 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
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