He makes a path shine after him. One would think the deep had white hair.
Parallel translations
- KJV He maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary.
- BSB He leaves a glistening wake behind him; one would think the deep had white hair!
- NKJV He leaves a shining wake behind him; One would think the deep had white hair.
- NASB “Behind him he illuminates a pathway; One would think the deep to be gray-haired.
- NLT The water glistens in its wake, making the sea look white.
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 leaves a glittering wake behind him, as if the churning deep had turned white-haired. The image underscores his overwhelming power and the awe he inspires.
Overview
Continuing God's portrait of Leviathan, the creature stirs the sea into a shining, foaming trail wherever he goes. The poetic comparison of the frothing deep to white hair evokes both majesty and untamable force. By dwelling on a creature no man can master, God presses home Job's smallness and His own incomparable greatness over all creation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Gen 15:15but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried at a good old age.
- Prov 16:31Gray hair is a crown of glory. It is attained by a life of righteousness.
- Gen 25:8Abraham gave up his spirit, and died in a good old age, an old man, and full of years, and was gathered to his people.
- Prov 20:29The glory of young men is their strength. The splendor of old men is their gray hair.
- Job 38:16“Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep?
- Job 38:30The waters become hard like stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen.
- Gen 1:2The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.
- Gen 1:15and let them be for lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth”; and it was so.
- Gen 42:38He said, “My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he only is left. If harm happens to him along the way in which you go, then you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.”
- Job 28:14The deep says, ‘It isn’t in me.’ The sea says, ‘It isn’t with me.’
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Commentaries & study tools
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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 41:32 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.