Job 40:19
New International Version
It ranks first among the works of God, yet its Maker can approach it with his sword.

New Living Translation
It is a prime example of God’s handiwork, and only its Creator can threaten it.

English Standard Version
“He is the first of the works of God; let him who made him bring near his sword!

Berean Standard Bible
He is the foremost of God’s works; only his Maker can draw the sword against him.

King James Bible
He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.

New King James Version
He is the first of the ways of God; Only He who made him can bring near His sword.

New American Standard Bible
“He is the first of the ways of God; Let his Maker bring His sword near.

NASB 1995
“He is the first of the ways of God; Let his maker bring near his sword.

NASB 1977
“He is the first of the ways of God; Let his maker bring near his sword.

Legacy Standard Bible
“It is the first of the ways of God; Let its Maker bring near its sword.

Amplified Bible
“He is the first [in magnitude and power] of the works of God; [Only] He who made him can bring near His sword [to master him].

Christian Standard Bible
He is the foremost of God’s works; only his Maker can draw the sword against him.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
He is the foremost of God’s works; only his Maker can draw the sword against him.

American Standard Version
He is the chief of the ways of God: He only that made him giveth him his sword.

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
He is the chief of all the creation of God, for he made him that he would make war

Brenton Septuagint Translation
This is the chief of the creation of the Lord; made to be played with by his angels.

Contemporary English Version
I made it more powerful than any other creature, yet I am stronger still.

Douay-Rheims Bible
He is the beginning of the ways of God, who made him, he will apply his sword.

English Revised Version
He is the chief of the ways of God: he only that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
Behemoth is the first of God's conquests. Its maker approaches it with his sword.

Good News Translation
The most amazing of all my creatures! Only his Creator can defeat him.

International Standard Version
He is the grandest of God's undertakings, yet his creator is approaching him with his sword.

JPS Tanakh 1917
He is the beginning of the ways of God; He only that made him can make His sword to approach unto him.

Literal Standard Version
He [is] a beginning of the ways of God, | His Maker [alone] brings His sword near;

Majority Standard Bible
He is the foremost of God’s works; only his Maker can draw the sword against him.

New American Bible
He is the first of God’s ways, only his maker can approach him with a sword.

NET Bible
It ranks first among the works of God, the One who made it has furnished it with a sword.

New Revised Standard Version
“It is the first of the great acts of God— only its Maker can approach it with the sword.

New Heart English Bible
He is the chief of the ways of God. He who made him gives him his sword.

Webster's Bible Translation
He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach him.

World English Bible
He is the chief of the ways of God. He who made him gives him his sword.

Young's Literal Translation
He is a beginning of the ways of God, His Maker bringeth nigh his sword;

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Job Humbles Himself Before the LORD
18His bones are tubes of bronze; his limbs are rods of iron. 19He is the foremost of God’s works; only his Maker can draw the sword against him. 20The hills yield him their produce, while all the beasts of the field play nearby.…

Cross References
Job 40:15
Look at Behemoth, which I made along with you. He feeds on grass like an ox.

Job 40:18
His bones are tubes of bronze; his limbs are rods of iron.

Job 41:33
Nothing on earth is his equal--a creature devoid of fear!


Treasury of Scripture

He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach to him.

the chief

Job 26:13
By his spirit he hath garnished the heavens; his hand hath formed the crooked serpent.

Psalm 104:24
O LORD, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all: the earth is full of thy riches.

he that

Psalm 7:12
If he turn not, he will whet his sword; he hath bent his bow, and made it ready.

Isaiah 27:1
In that day the LORD with his sore and great and strong sword shall punish leviathan the piercing serpent, even leviathan that crooked serpent; and he shall slay the dragon that is in the sea.

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Approach Beginning Chief First Gives Maker Nigh Pleasure Ranks Sword Ways Works
Job 40
1. Job humbles himself to God
6. God stirs him up to show his righteousness, power, and wisdom
16. Of the behemoth














(19) He is the chief of the ways of God.--This is surely more applicable to the elephant than the hippopotamus, considering the great intelligence and usefulness of the elephant. The last clause is very obscure. Some render, "He only that made him can bring his sword near unto him;" or, "He that made him hath furnished him with his sword." Others, "He that would dress him (as meat) let him come near him with his sword !" indicating the inequality of the contest. Perhaps a combination of the first and last is best--"Let his Maker (but no one else venture to) approach him with His sword."

Verse 19. - He is the chief of the ways of God. This is the main argument in favour of the elephant, rather than the hippopotamus, being intended (see Schultens, ad loc.). It has, indeed, been argued that some specimens of the hippopotamus exceed the elephant in height and bulk (Canon Cook, in the 'Speaker's Commentary,' vol. 4. p. 19); but no modern naturalist certainly would place the former animal above the latter in any catalogue raisonee of animals arranged according to their size and importance. The elephant, however, may not have been known to the author of Job, or, at any rate, the Asiatic species, which seems not to have been imported into Assyria before the middle of the ninth century B.C. In this case, the hippopotamus might well seem to him the grandest of the works of God. He that made him can make his sword to approach unto him. This is explained to mean, "Only God can attack behemoth with success and slay him; man is powerless to do so" (Canon Cook, Stanley Leathes, Revised Version). But the Egyptians, from very early times, used to attack the hippopotamus and slay him (Wilkinson, in the author's 'Herodotus,' vol. 2, p. 100). It is better, therefore, to translate the passage, with Schultens, "He that made him hath furnished him with his sword," and to understand by "his sword" those sharp teeth with which the hippopotamus is said to "cut the grass as neatly as if it were mown and to sever, as if with shears a tolerably stout and thick stem" (Wood, ' Natural History,' vol. 1. p. 762). Compare the 'Theriaca' of Nicander, 11. 566, 567 -

Η ἵππου τὸν Νεῖλος ὑπὲρ Σάι'ν αἰθαλόεσσαν
Βόσκει ἀρούρησιν δὲ κακὴν ἐπιβάλλεται ἅρπην

Parallel Commentaries ...


Hebrew
He
ה֭וּא (hū)
Pronoun - third person masculine singular
Strong's 1931: He, self, the same, this, that, as, are

is the foremost
רֵאשִׁ֣ית (rê·šîṯ)
Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 7225: The first, in place, time, order, rank

of God’s
אֵ֑ל (’êl)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 410: Strength -- as adjective, mighty, the Almighty

works;
דַּרְכֵי־ (dar·ḵê-)
Noun - common plural construct
Strong's 1870: A road, a course of life, mode of action

only his Maker
הָ֝עֹשׂוֹ (hā·‘ō·śōw)
Article | Verb - Qal - Participle - masculine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 6213: To do, make

can draw the sword
חַרְבּֽוֹ׃ (ḥar·bōw)
Noun - feminine singular construct | third person masculine singular
Strong's 2719: Drought, a cutting instrument, as a, knife, sword

against him.
יַגֵּ֥שׁ (yag·gêš)
Verb - Hifil - Imperfect Jussive - third person masculine singular
Strong's 5066: To draw near, approach


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OT Poetry: Job 40:19 He is the chief of the ways (Jb)
Job 40:18
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