Job 41:2

New King James Version

Can you put a reed through his nose, Or pierce his jaw with a hook?

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Can you put a cord through his noseor pierce his jaw with a hook?

Hebrew Names Version
Can you put a rope into his nose? Or pierce his jaw through with a hook?

King James Version
Canst thou put an hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn?

English Standard Version
Can you put a rope in his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?

New Century Version
Can you put a cord through its nose or a hook in its jaw?

New English Translation
Can you put a cord through its nose, or pierce its jaw with a hook?

Amplified Bible
"Can you put a rope [made] of rushes into his nose Or pierce his jaw through with a hook?

New American Standard Bible
"Can you put a rope in his nose, And pierce his jaw with a hook?

World English Bible
Can you put a rope into his nose? Or pierce his jaw through with a hook?

Geneva Bible (1587)
Canst thou cast an hooke into his nose? canst thou perce his iawes with an angle?

Legacy Standard Bible
Can you put a rope in its noseOr pierce its jaw with a hook?

Berean Standard Bible
Can you put a cord through his nose or pierce his jaw with a hook?

Contemporary English Version
Can it be led around by a ring in its nose or a hook in its jaw?

Complete Jewish Bible
No one is fierce enough to rouse him, so who can stand up to me?

Darby Translation
Wilt thou put a rush-rope into his nose, and pierce his jaw with a spike?

Easy-to-Read Version
Can you put a rope through his nose or a hook through his jaw?

George Lamsa Translation
Can you put a bridle in his mouth? Or bore his jaw with a thorn?

Good News Translation
Can you put a rope through his snout or put a hook through his jaws?

Lexham English Bible
Can you put a rope in its nose? Or can you pierce its jawbone with a hook?

Literal Translation
Can you put a reed rope into his nose, or pierce his jaw with a thorn?

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Canst thou put a rynge in the nose of him, or bore his chaftes thorow with a naule?

American Standard Version
Canst thou put a rope into his nose? Or pierce his jaw through with a hook?

Bible in Basic English
Will you put a cord into his nose, or take him away with a cord round his tongue?

JPS Old Testament (1917)
None is so fierce that dare stir him up; who then is able to stand before Me?

King James Version (1611)
Canst thou put an hooke into his nose? or bore his iawe through with a thorne?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Canst thou put a hooke in the nose of him, or bore his iawe through with a naule?

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
Or who will resist me, and abide, since the whole world under heaven is mine?

English Revised Version
Canst thou put a rope into his nose? or pierce his jaw through with a hook?

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Whethir thou schalt putte a ryng in hise nosethirlis, ethir schalt perse hyse cheke with `an hook?

Update Bible Version
Can you put a rope into his nose? Or pierce his jaw through with a hook?

Webster's Bible Translation
Canst thou put a hook into his nose? or bore his jaw through with a thorn?

New Living Translation
Can you tie it with a rope through the nose or pierce its jaw with a spike?

New Life Bible
Can you put a rope in his nose, or put a hook through his jaw?

New Revised Standard
Can you put a rope in its nose, or pierce its jaw with a hook?

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Wilt thou put a rush-cord on his nose? or, with a thorn, wilt thou pierce his jaw?

Douay-Rheims Bible
(40-21) Canst thou put a ring in his nose, or bore through his jaw with a buckle?

Revised Standard Version
Can you put a rope in his nose, or pierce his jaw with a hook?

Young's Literal Translation
Dost thou put a reed in his nose? And with a thorn pierce his jaw?

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Can you put a rope in his nose Or pierce his jaw with a hook?

Contextual Overview

¹ "Can you draw out Leviathan [fn] with a hook,Or snare his tongue with a line which you lower? ² Can you put a reed through his nose, Or pierce his jaw with a hook? ³ Will he make many supplications to you? Will he speak softly to you? ⁴ Will he make a covenant with you? Will you take him as a servant forever? ⁵ Will you play with him as with a bird, Or will you leash him for your maidens? ⁶ Will your companions make a banquet [fn] of him?Will they apportion him among the merchants? ⁷ Can you fill his skin with harpoons, Or his head with fishing spears? ⁸ Lay your hand on him; Remember the battle-- Never do it again! ⁹ Indeed, any hope of overcoming him is false; Shall one not be overwhelmed at the sight of him? ¹⁰ No one is so fierce that he would dare stir him up. Who then is able to stand against Me?

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Isaiah 27:1, Isaiah 37:29, Ezekiel 29:4, Ezekiel 29:5

Reciprocal: 2 Kings 19:28 - I will put Job 40:24 - General

Cross-References

Isaiah 19:6
The rivers will turn foul; The brooks of defense will be emptied and dried up; The reeds and rushes will wither.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Canst thou put an hook into his nose?.... Or a rush, that is, a rope made of rushes; for of such ropes were made, as Pliny g affirms;

or bore his jaw through with a thorn? as men do herrings, or such like small fish, for the convenience of carrying them, or hanging them up to dry; the whale is not to be used in such a manner: but the Tentyritae, a people in Egypt, great enemies to crocodiles, had methods of taking thorn in nets, and of binding and bridling them, and carrying them as they pleased h.

g Nat. Hist. l. 19. c. 2. h Strabo. Geograph. l. 17. p. 560. Aelian. de Animal. l. 10. c. 21. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 25.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Canst thou put a hook into his nose - Or rather, a “rope,” or “cord.” The word used here (אגמון 'agmôn) means “a caldron,” or “kettle” Job 41:20, also a reed, or bulrush, growing in marshy places, and thus a rope made of reeds, a rush-cord. The idea is, that he could not be led about by a cord, as tame animals may be. Mr. Vansittart, however, supposes that the words here are expressive of ornaments, and that the allusion is to the fact mentioned by Herodotus, that the crocodile was led about by the Egyptians as a divinity, and that in this state it was adorned with rings and various stately trappings. There can be no doubt that such a fact existed, but this does not accord well with the scope of the passage here. The object is to impress the mind of Job with a sense of the strength and untamableness of the animal, not to describe the honors which were paid to it.

Or bore his jaw through with a thorn - Or with a ring. The word here properly means a thorn, or thorn-bush, Job 31:40; Proverbs 26:9; and then also a ring that was put through the nose of an animal, in order to secure it. The instrument was probably made sharp like a thorn or spike, and then bent so as to become a ring; compare Isaiah 37:29. Mr. Bruce, speaking of the manner of fishing in the Nile, says that when a fisherman has caught a fish, he draws it to the shore, and puts a strong iron ring into its jaw. To this ring is fastened a rope by which the fish is attached to the shore, which he then throws again into the water. “Rosenmuller.”

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 41:2. Canst thou put a hook onto his nose? — Canst thou put a ring in his nose, and lead him about as thou dost thine ox? In the East they frequently lead thy oxen and buffaloes with a ring in their noses. So they do bulls and oxen in this country.

Bore his jaw through with a thorn? — Some have thought that this means, Canst thou deal with him as with one of those little fish which thou stringest on a rush by means of the thorn at its end? Or perhaps it may refer to those ornaments with which they sometimes adorned their horses, mules, camels, &c.