Job 41:18

King James Version

By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

Parallel Translations

Legacy Standard Bible
Its sneezes flash forth light,And its eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"His sneezes flash forth light, And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
His neesinges make a glistering like fyre, and his eyes lyke the morning shine.

Darby Translation
His sneezings flash light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

New King James Version
His sneezings flash forth light, And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

Literal Translation
His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are as the eyelids of the dawn.

Easy-to-Read Version
When Leviathan sneezes, it is like lightning flashing out. His eyes shine like the light of dawn.

World English Bible
His sneezing flashes forth light, His eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

King James Version (1611)
By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eye-liddes of the morning.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
His nesinge is like a glisteringe fyre, and his eyes like the mornynge shyne.

THE MESSAGE
"He snorts and the world lights up with fire, he blinks and the dawn breaks. Comets pour out of his mouth, fireworks arc and branch. Smoke erupts from his nostrils like steam from a boiling pot. He blows and fires blaze; flames of fire stream from his mouth. All muscle he is—sheer and seamless muscle. To meet him is to dance with death. Sinewy and lithe, there's not a soft spot in his entire body— As tough inside as out, rock-hard, invulnerable. Even angels run for cover when he surfaces, cowering before his tail-thrashing turbulence. Javelins bounce harmlessly off his hide, harpoons ricochet wildly. Iron bars are so much straw to him, bronze weapons beneath notice. Arrows don't even make him blink; bullets make no more impression than raindrops. A battle ax is nothing but a splinter of kindling; he treats a brandished harpoon as a joke. His belly is armor-plated, inexorable— unstoppable as a barge. He roils deep ocean the way you'd boil water, he whips the sea like you'd whip an egg into batter. With a luminous trail stretching out behind him, you might think Ocean had grown a gray beard! There's nothing on this earth quite like him, not an ounce of fear in that creature! He surveys all the high and mighty— king of the ocean, king of the deep!"

American Standard Version
His sneezings flash forth light, And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

Bible in Basic English
His sneezings give out flames, and his eyes are like the eyes of the dawn.

Update Bible Version
His sneezings flash forth light, And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

Webster's Bible Translation
His sneezings flash light, and his eyes [are] like the eyelids of the morning.

New English Translation
Its snorting throws out flashes of light; its eyes are like the red glow of dawn.

Contemporary English Version
When this monster sneezes, lightning flashes, and its eyes glow like the dawn.

Complete Jewish Bible
"If a sword touches him, it won't stick; neither will a spear, or a dart, or a lance.

Geneva Bible (1587)
His niesings make the light to shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

George Lamsa Translation
They are joined one to another, they stick together so that they cannot be separated.

Amplified Bible
"His sneezes flash forth light, And his eyes are like the [reddish] eyelids of the dawn.

Hebrew Names Version
His sneezing flashes forth light, His eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
If one lay at him with the sword, it will not hold; nor the spear, the dart, nor the pointed shaft.

New Living Translation
"When it sneezes, it flashes light! Its eyes are like the red of dawn.

New Life Bible
His breath gives out light. And his eyes are like those of the first light of day.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
For he considers iron as chaff, and brass as rotten wood.

English Revised Version
His neesings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

Berean Standard Bible
His snorting flashes with light, and his eyes are like the rays of dawn.

New Revised Standard
Its sneezes flash forth light, and its eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
His sneezings, flash forth light, and, his eyes, are like the eyelashes of the dawn;

Douay-Rheims Bible
(41-9) His sneezing is like the shining of fire, and his eyes like the eyelids of the morning.

Lexham English Bible
"Its snorting flashes forth light, and its eyes are red like dawn.

English Standard Version
His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.

New American Standard Bible
"His sneezes flash forth light, And his eyes are like the eye of dawn.

New Century Version
When it snorts, flashes of light are thrown out, and its eyes look like the light at dawn.

Good News Translation
Light flashes when he sneezes, and his eyes glow like the rising sun.

Christian Standard Bible®
His snorting flashes with light, while his eyes are like the rays of dawn.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
His fnesynge is as schynynge of fier, and hise iyen ben as iyelidis of the morewtid.

Young's Literal Translation
His sneezings cause light to shine, And his eyes [are] as the eyelids of the dawn.

Revised Standard Version
His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.

Contextual Overview

¹¹ Who hath prevented me, that I should repay him? whatsoever is under the whole heaven is mine. ¹² I will not conceal his parts, nor his power, nor his comely proportion. ¹³ Who can discover the face of his garment? or who can come to him with his double bridle? ¹⁴ Who can open the doors of his face? his teeth are terrible round about. ¹⁵ His scales are his pride, shut up together as with a close seal. ¹⁶ One is so near to another, that no air can come between them. ¹⁷ They are joined one to another, they stick together, that they cannot be sundered. ¹⁸ By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. ¹⁹ Out of his mouth go burning lamps, and sparks of fire leap out. ²⁰ Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the eyelids: Job 3:9, *marg. Revelation 1:14

Cross-References

Genesis 41:1
And it came to pass at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river.

Genesis 41:3
And, behold, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, ill favoured and leanfleshed; and stood by the other kine upon the brink of the river.

Jeremiah 24:5
Thus saith the Lord , the God of Israel; Like these good figs, so will I acknowledge them that are carried away captive of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans for their good.

Jeremiah 24:8
And as the evil figs, which cannot be eaten, they are so evil; surely thus saith the Lord , So will I give Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and them that dwell in the land of Egypt:

Gill's Notes on the Bible

By his neesings a light doth shine,.... The philosopher i observes, that those who look to the sun are more apt to sneeze: and it is taken notice of by various writers k, that the crocodile delights to be sunning itself, and lying yawning in the sun and looking at it, as quoted by Bochart; and so frequently sneeze: which sneezings, through the rays of the sun, may seem to shine and give light. Though as, in sneezing, water is thrown out through the nostrils, it may be observed of the whale, that it has mouths or holes in its front, through which, as through pipes, it throws out showers and floods of water, as Pliny l relates; which, by means of the rays of the sun, as in a rainbow, appear bright and glittering;

and his eyes [are] like the eyelids of the morning: the break and dawn of day; a very beautiful expression, the same we call "peep of day": Pindar m has "the eye of the evening"; break of day, as Ben Gersom says, is about an hour and the fifth part of an hour before the sunrising. The eyes of the crocodile were, with the Egyptians, an hieroglyphic of the morning n: wherefore this seems better to agree with the crocodile than the whale, whose eyes are not much bigger than those of a bullock; and has eyelids and hair like men's eyes; the crystal of the eye is not much bigger than a pea o; its eyes are placed very low, almost at the end of the upper lip, and when without its guide, dashes itself against rocks and shoals p. Though that sort of whales called "orcae" are said to have eyes a foot long, and of a red rosy colour, such as the morning is described by q; and a northern writer r tells us that some whales have eyes, whose circumference will admit fifteen or twenty men to sit therein; and in others it exceeds eight or ten cubits; and that the pupil is a cubit, and of a red and flaming colour; which, at a distance, in dark seasons, among the waves, appears to fishermen as fire kindled. And Thevenot s says of crocodiles, that their eyes are indifferently big, and very darkish.

i Problem. s. 33. qu. 4. k Aelian. l. 3. c. 11. Leo African. Descriptio African, l. 9. p. 761. Pet. Martyr. Decad. 3. c. 4. l Nat. Hist. l. 9. c. 4, 6. m Olymp. Ode 3. v. 36. n Hor. Hiereglyph. apud Scheuchzer. vol. 4. p. 849. o Voyage to Spitzbergen, p. 145. p Aelian. l. 2. c. 13. Plin. l. 9. c. 62. q Hasacus apud Schultens in loc. r Olaus Magnus de Ritu Gent. Septent. l. 21. c. 5, 8. so Albertus Magnus de Animal. l. 24. c. 1. s Travels, ut supra, (part. 1.) p. 245.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

By his neesings a light doth shine - The word rendered “neesings” means properly sneezing, and the literal sense here would be, “His sneezings, light shines.” Coverdale renders it, “His nesinge is like a glisteringe fyre.” Bochart says that the meaning is, “that when the crocodile sneezes, the breath is driven through the nostrils with such force that it seems to scintillate, or emit fire.” Probably the meaning is, that when the animal emits a sudden sound, like sneezing, the fire seems to flash from the eye. There is some quick and rapid motion of the eyes, which in the rays of the sun seem to flash fire. The sneezing of the crocodile is mentioned by Aristotle. Prof. Lee. Amphibious animals, the longer they hold their breath under water, respire so much the more violently when they emerge, and the breath is expelled suddenly and with violence. Schultens. This is the action here referred to - the strong effort of the animal to recover breath when he rises to the surface, and when in the effort the eyes seem to scintillate, or emit light.

And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning - The “eyelids of the morning” is a beautiful poetic phrase quite common in Hebrew poetry. The eyes of the crocodile are small, but they are remarkable. When he lifts his head above water, his staring eyes are the first things that strike the beholder, and may then with great beauty be compared with the morning light. There is a remarkable coincidence here, in the fact that when the Egyptians would represent the morning by a hieroglyphic, they painted a crocodile’s eye. The reason assigned for this was, that before the whole body of the animal appeared, the eyes seemed to rise from the deep; see Bochart on the passage, “Hierez.,” and also Herapollo, “Hieroglyph.” i. c. 65.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 41:18. By his neesings a light doth shine — It is very likely that this may be taken literally. When he spurts up the water out of his nostrils, the drops form a sort of iris or rainbow. We have seen this effect produced when, in certain situations and state of the atmosphere, water was thrown up forcibly, so as to be broken into small drops, which has occasioned an appearance like the rainbow.

The eyelids of the morning. — It is said that, under the water, the eyes of the crocodile are exceedingly dull; but when he lifts his head above water they sparkle with the greatest vivacity. Hence the Egyptians, in their hieroglyphics, made the eyes of the crocodile the emblem of the morning. Ανατολην λεγοντες δυο οφθαλμους κροκοδειλου ζωογραφουσι. - HORAPP. Egypt. Ieroglyph., lib. i., c. 65. This is a most remarkable circumstance, casts light on ancient history, and shows the rigid correctness of the picture drawn above.

The same figure is employed by the Greek poets.

Χρυσεας ἡμερας βλεφαρον.

"The eyelid of the golden day."

Soph. Antig. ver. 103.

Νυκτος αφεγγες βλεφαρον.

"The darksome eyelid of the night."

Eurip. Phaeniss. ver. 553.