His sneezing flashes out light. His eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
Parallel Translations
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His sneezing flashes out light. His eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
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By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
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(41-10) His sneezings flash forth light, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning.
Cross-references (2)
Passages linked to Job 41:18 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Job 3:9 Let the stars of its twilight be dark. Let it look for light, but have none, neither let it see the eyelids of the morning,
- Revelation 1:14 His head and his hair were white as white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Job 41:18 By his neesings a light doth shine,…
Job 41:18 By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes [are] like the eyelids of the morning.
Ver. 18. By his neesings a light doth shine] When this dreadful monster sneezeth, or snorteth, fire breaketh out at his eyes and nose. By this neesing of the whale is meant the abundance of white frothy water which he casteth forth at his nostrils, In sublime nimbos efflat (Plin. lib. 9, c. 6).
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And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning] Bright and beamy. Olaus writeth of the Norway whales, that their eyes shine in a dark night like a fire; so that mariners have oft thought, when they have seen them, that they saw a great fire.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain By his neesings; which may be understood either,
By his neesings; which may be understood either,
1. Of any commotion or agitation of the body, like that which is in neezing, as when the whale stirreth himself and casteth or shooteth up great spouts of water into the air by the pipes which God hath planted in his head for this use; which water being thin, and transparent, and illuminated by the sun-beams, casts forth a shining light. Or,
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2. Of neezing properly so called, which the crocodile is said frequently to do, because it commonly turneth its eyes to the sun, as Strabo and others note; which when a man doth, he is apt to neeze.
Like the eyelids of the morning; to which they seem very fitly compared, because the eyes both of the whale and crocodile are dull and dark under the water; but as soon as they appear above water, they cast forth immediately a bright and clear light, though not like that of the sun at noon-day, which had been too great an hyperbole, yet like the morning light, suddenly breaking forth after the dark night.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain By his neesings a light doth shine,.... The philosopher…
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.
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(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.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Sneesings - This the crocodile is said frequently to…
Sneesings - This the crocodile is said frequently to do. Eyes - To which they seem very fitly compared, because the eyes of the crocodile are dull and dark under the water, but as soon as they appear above water, cast a bright and clear light; like the morning light, suddenly breaking forth after the dark night.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 18. By his neesings a light doth shine]…
Verse 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.
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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.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Job 41:18. By his neesings a light doth shine…
Job 41:18. By his neesings a light doth shine — Literally, His sneezing causes the light to sparkle. If he sneeze, or spout up water, it is like a light shining, either with the froth, or the light of the sun shining through it. The crocodile, in particular, is said frequently to sneeze. His eyes are like the eyelids of the morning — The eyes of the whale are said in the night-time to shine like a flame; and the eyes of the crocodile, although they are dull and dark under the water, yet, as soon as they appear above water, cast a bright and clear light, like that of the morning suddenly breaking forth after the dark night. “I think,” says Dr. Young, “this gives us as great an image of the thing it would express as can enter the thoughts of man. It is not improbable that the Egyptians stole their hieroglyphic for the morning, which is the crocodile’s eye, from this passage, though no commentator I have seen mentions it. It is easy to conceive how the Egyptians should be both readers and admirers of the writings of Moses, whom I suppose the author of this poem.” The doctor paraphrases this clause thus:
“Large is his front; and when his burnish’d eyes
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Lift their broad lids, the morning seems to rise.”
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain By his neesings a light doth shine - The…
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.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Translate: "his sneezing, causeth a light to shine." Amphibious…
Translate: "his sneezing, causeth a light to shine." Amphibious animals, emerging after having long held their breath under water, respire by violently expelling the breath like one sneezing: in the effort the eyes which are usually directed towards the sun, seem to flash fire; or it is the expelled breath that, in the sun, seems to emit light.
eyelids of morning--The Egyptian hieroglyphics paint the eyes of the crocodile as the symbol for morning, because the eyes appear the first thing, before the whole body emerges from the deep [Horæ Hierogliphicæ 1.65. BOCHART].
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 18. By his neesings a light doth shine —…
18. By his neesings a light doth shine — Rather, His sneezings flash forth light. “This delicate observation of nature is here compressed into three words; in this concentration of whole grand thoughts and pictures we recognise the older poet.” — Delitzsch. This animal, as travellers have remarked from the days of Herodotus to the present, delights to he on the sandbank, turning his open jaws to the sun — an act which naturally gives rise to sneezing. The sun’s light, shining through the abundant spray thrown from the nostrils, produces a striking luminous appearance. A like delicate observation of the hippopotamus is made by Dr. Schweinfurth, an African traveller: “In the sunlight the fine spray emitted from their nostrils gleamed like a ray of light.” — Heart of Africa, 2:315. The Jews, according to Buxtorf, (col. 1599,) connect with this text a notion that sneezing saves life by the light which it gives. In keeping with this conceit, the Jews, says Chappelow, when any one sneezes, say: “A happy life to thee.”
The eyelids of the morning — (See Job_3:9.) The Egyptian made the flashing, cat-like eyes of this animal the symbol of the morning. A passage from Horus-Apollos, who wrote on hieroglyphs about 500 A.D., furnishes a remarkable illustration: “To describe the dawn, the Egyptians depict two eyes of a crocodile, inasmuch as the eyes make their appearance out of the deep before its entire body.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 18. The animal is said to inflate itself, as…
18. The animal is said to inflate itself, as it lies basking in the sun, and then force the heated breath through its nostrils, which in the sun appears like a stream of light.
the eyelids of the morning] The reference may be to the shining of the reddish eyes of the animal, which are seen even under the water, before its head comes to the surface. In the Egyptian hieroglyphs the eyes of the crocodile are a symbol of the dawn.
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18–21. The monster breathes smoke and flame.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (18) By his neesings a light doth shine, and…
(18) By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning—i.e., fiery red and glowing.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain By his neesings a light doth shine. "Neesings" is…
By his neesings a light doth shine. "Neesings" is old English for "sneezings." According to Aristotle, the crocodile is in the habit of sneezing, but I do not find this fact noted by modern writers Boehart asserts it very positively ("Hieroz.," pp. 752-754), but he does not profess to speak from his own knowledge. And his eyes are like the eyelids of the morning. This probably does not mean more than that his eyes flash with light upon occasion, which is no doubt true, though the eyes, being small, have not generally attracted very much attention.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.