Shall the companions make a banquet of him? shall they part him among the merchants?
Parallel translations
- WEB Will traders barter for him? Will they part him among the merchants?
- BSB Will traders barter for him or divide him among the merchants?
- NKJV Will your companions make a banquet of him? Will they apportion him among the merchants?
- NASB “Will the traders bargain for him? Will they divide him among the merchants?
- NLT Will merchants try to buy it to sell it in their shops?
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 traders will bargain over Leviathan and divide him among merchants. The creature cannot be caught and sold like ordinary game.
Overview
The question of merchants bartering over Leviathan underscores that no one can capture and market this beast. It lies outside the reach of human commerce and control. The imagery reinforces the theme that man cannot master what God has made. Job is being taught that the whole created order, even its most terrifying creatures, answers to God alone.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 1
- Judg 14:11And it came to pass, when they saw him, that they brought thirty companions to be with him.
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 41:6 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.