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Updated Bible Version

Job 41:18

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

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - God;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Leviathan;   Light;   Morning;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Neesing;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Eyelids of the Morning;   Neezings;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Leviathan;   Neesing;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Neesings;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Leviathan;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Obsolete or obscure words in the english av bible;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Eyelids;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Dawn;   Eyelid;   Leviathan;   Neesing;   Sneeze;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Dart;   Leviathan and Behemoth;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
His snorting flashes with light,while his eyes are like the rays of dawn.
Hebrew Names Version
His sneezing flashes forth light, His eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
King James Version
By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
English Standard Version
His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.
New Century Version
When it snorts, flashes of light are thrown out, and its eyes look like the light at dawn.
New English Translation
Its snorting throws out flashes of light; its eyes are like the red glow of dawn.
Amplified Bible
"His sneezes flash forth light, And his eyes are like the [reddish] eyelids of the dawn.
New American Standard Bible
"His sneezes flash forth light, And his eyes are like the eye of dawn.
World English Bible
His sneezing flashes forth light, His eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
Geneva Bible (1587)
His niesings make the light to shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
Legacy Standard Bible
Its sneezes flash forth light,And its 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.
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.
Darby Translation
His sneezings flash light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
Easy-to-Read Version
When Leviathan sneezes, it is like lightning flashing out. His eyes shine like the light of dawn.
George Lamsa Translation
They are joined one to another, they stick together so that they cannot be separated.
Good News Translation
Light flashes when he sneezes, and his eyes glow like the rising sun.
Lexham English Bible
"Its snorting flashes forth light, and its eyes are red like dawn.
Literal Translation
His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are as the eyelids of the dawn.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
His nesinge is like a glisteringe fyre, and his eyes like the mornynge shyne.
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.
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.
King James Version (1611)
By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eye-liddes of the morning.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
His neesinges make a glistering like fyre, and his eyes lyke the morning shine.
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.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
His fnesynge is as schynynge of fier, and hise iyen ben as iyelidis of the morewtid.
Webster's Bible 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.
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.
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.
Revised Standard Version
His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the dawn.
Young's Literal Translation
His sneezings cause light to shine, And his eyes [are] as the eyelids of the dawn.
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!"
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"His sneezes flash forth light, And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.

Contextual Overview

11 Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? [Whatever is] under the whole heaven is mine. 12 I will not keep silent concerning his limbs, Nor his mighty strength, nor his goodly frame. 13 Who can strip off his outer garment? Who shall come inside his jaws? 14 Who can open the doors of his face? Round about his teeth is terror. 15 [His] strong scales are [his] back, 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, so that they can't be sundered. 18 His sneezings flash forth light, And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. 19 Out of his mouth go burning torches, And sparks of fire leap forth. 20 Out of his nostrils a smoke goes, As of a boiling pot and [burning] rushes.

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, look, he stood by the river.
Genesis 41:3
And, look, seven other kine came up after them out of the river, ill-favored and lean-fleshed, and stood by the other kine on the brink of the river.
Jeremiah 24:5
This is what Yahweh, the God of Israel, says: Like these good figs, so I will regard the captives of Judah, whom I have sent out of this place into the land of the Chaldeans, for good.
Jeremiah 24:8
And as the bad figs, which can't be eaten, they are so bad, surely thus says Yahweh, So I will give up Zedekiah the king of Judah, and his princes, and the residue of Jerusalem, that remain in this land, and those 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.


 
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