Will he make many supplications unto thee? will he speak soft words unto thee?
Parallel translations
- WEB Will he make many petitions to you, or will he speak soft words to you?
- BSB Will he beg you for mercy or speak to you softly?
- NKJV Will he make many supplications to you? Will he speak softly to you?
- NASB “Will he make many pleas to you, Or will he speak to you gentle words?
- NLT Will it beg you for mercy or implore you for pity?
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
God asks whether Leviathan will beg Job for mercy or speak gently to him. The fierce creature will never submit or plead to man.
Overview
With irony, God asks if Leviathan will make supplication or speak soft words, as a captive might to its master. Of course it will not; the beast acknowledges no human lord. The picture reinforces man's inability to dominate the creature and, by extension, the Creator. Job is led to see that he cannot bend even a beast to his will, let alone summon God to account.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Prov 15:1A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.
- Prov 18:23The poor useth intreaties; but the rich answereth roughly.
- Prov 25:15By long forbearing is a prince persuaded, and a soft tongue breaketh the bone.
- Isa 30:10Which say to the seers, See not; and to the prophets, Prophesy not unto us right things, speak unto us smooth things, prophesy deceits:
- Ps 55:21The words of his mouth were smoother than butter, but war was in his heart: his words were softer than oil, yet were they drawn swords.
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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 41:3 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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