His heart is as firm as a stone; yea, as hard as a piece of the nether millstone.
Parallel translations
- WEB His heart is as firm as a stone, yes, firm as the lower millstone.
- BSB His chest is as hard as a rock, as hard as a lower millstone!
- NKJV His heart is as hard as stone, Even as hard as the lower millstone.
- NASB “His heart is as firm as a stone, And as firm as a lower millstone.
- NLT Its heart is hard as rock, hard as a millstone.
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 heart is as hard as stone, firm as a millstone. His fearless, unshakable nature reflects how God made him.
Overview
The creature's heart is likened to hard stone, even to the lower millstone, conveying utter fearlessness and resolve. Nothing daunts Leviathan. This God-given courage makes the beast all the more terrifying to man. The portrait magnifies the Creator who endowed his creature with such steadfastness, and humbles Job before the One whose own power infinitely surpasses it.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Jer 5:3O LORD, are not thine eyes upon the truth? thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction: they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.
- Isa 48:4Because I knew that thou art obstinate, and thy neck is an iron sinew, and thy brow brass;
- Zech 7:12Yea, they made their hearts as an adamant stone, lest they should hear the law, and the words which the LORD of hosts hath sent in his spirit by the former prophets: therefore came a great wrath from the LORD of hosts.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 41:24 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.