He makes a path shine after him. One would think the deep had white hair.
Parallel Translations
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He makes a path shine after him. One would think the deep had white hair.
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He maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary.
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(41-24) He maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary.
Cross-references (10)
Passages linked to Job 41:32 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 1:2 The earth was formless and empty. Darkness was on the surface of the deep and God’s Spirit was hovering over the surface of the waters.
- Genesis 1:15 and let them be for lights in the expanse of the sky to give light on the earth;” and it was so.
- Genesis 15:15 but you will go to your fathers in peace. You will be buried at a good old age.
- Genesis 25:8 Abraham gave up his spirit, and died at a good old age, an old man, and full of years, and was gathered to his people.
- Genesis 42:38 He said, “My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he only is left. If harm happens to him along the way in which you go, then you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.”
- Job 28:14 The deep says, ‘It isn’t in me.’ The sea says, ‘It isn’t with me.’
- Job 38:16 “Have you entered into the springs of the sea? Or have you walked in the recesses of the deep?
- Job 38:30 The waters become hard like stone, when the surface of the deep is frozen.
- Proverbs 16:31 Gray hair is a crown of glory. It is attained by a life of righteousness.
- Proverbs 20:29 The glory of young men is their strength. The splendor of old men is their gray hair.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Job 41:32 He maketh a path to shine after…
Job 41:32 He maketh a path to shine after him; [one] would think the deep [to be] hoary.
Ver. 32. He maketh a path to shine after him] A ship doth so, much more a whale.
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One would think the deep to be hoary] By reason of the white shining foam left behind him.
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 When he raiseth himself to the top of the…
When he raiseth himself to the top of the waters, he doth as it were plough it up, and make large furrows, and causeth a white froth or foam upon the waters.
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 Upon the earth there is not his like,.... As…
Upon the earth there is not his like,.... As to form and figure; in most creatures there is some likeness between those in the sea and on the land, as sea horses, calves, &c. but there is no likeness between a whale and any creature on earth; there is between the crocodile and the lizard; nor is any like the whale for the largeness of its bulk; the Targum is,
"his dominion is not on the earth,''
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but on the sea, as Aben Ezra notes; but rather the sense is, there is no power on earth that he obeys and submits to, as the Tigurine version; though the meaning seems to be, that there is none like him, for what follows:
who is made without fear; yet this agrees not neither with the crocodile, which Aelianus (w) says is fearful; nor with the whale, which will make off and depart at the shoutings of men, blowing of trumpets, and making use of any tinkling instruments, at which it is frightened, as Strabo (x), Philostratus (y), and Olaus Magnus (z), relate. It is observed (a); of their valour, that if they see a man or a long boat, they go under water and run away; and are never known to endeavour to hurt any man, but when in danger; though a voyager (b) of our own says,
"we saw whales in Whale-sound, and lying aloft on the water, not fearing our ships, or aught else.''
The Targum is,
"he is made that he might not be broken;''
or bruised, as Bochart; as reptiles usually may, among whom the crocodile may be reckoned, because of its short legs; and yet is made with such a hard scaly skin, that it cannot be crushed, bruised, and broken. Aben Ezra observes that some say, the word "hu", that is, "he", is wanting, and should be supplied, "he", that is, "God, made him without fear"; or that he might not be bruised; wherefore Cocceius interprets the following words entirely of God.
(w) De Animal. l. 10. c. 24. (x) Geograph. l. 15. p. 499. (y) Vit. Apollon. l. 3. c. 16. (z) De Ritu Gent. Septent. l. 21. c. 3, 6. (a) Voyage to Spitzbergen, p. 153. (b) Baffin in the North-West Fox, p. 150.
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 Shine - By the white froth or foam upon…
Shine - By the white froth or foam upon the waters. The same may be observed in the wake of a ship by 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 32. He maketh a path to shine after…
Verse 32. He maketh a path to shine after him] In certain states of the weather a rapid motion through the water disengages many sparks of phosphoric fire. I have seen this at sea; once particularly, on a fine clear night, with a good breeze, in a fast-sailing vessel, I leaned over the stern, and watched this phenomenon for hours. The wake of the vessel was like a stream of fire; millions of particles of fire were disengaged by the ship's swift motion through the water, nearly in the same way as by the electric cushion and cylinder; and all continued to be absorbed at a short distance from the vessel. Whether this phenomenon takes place in fresh water or in the Nile, I have had no opportunity of observing.
The deep to be hoary.] By the frost and foam raised by the rapid passage of the animal through the water.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain He maketh a path to shine after him -…
He maketh a path to shine after him - This refers doubtless to the white foam of the waters through which he passes. If this were spoken of some monster that commonly resides in the ocean, it would not be unnatural to suppose that it refers to the phosphoric light such as is observed when the waters are agitated, or when a vessel passes rapidly through them. If it refers, however, to the crocodile, the allusion must be understood of the hoary appearance of the Nile or the lake where he is found.
One would think the deep to be hoary - Homer often speaks of the sea as πολιὴν θάλασσαν poliēn thalassan - “the hoary sea.” So Apollonius, speaking of the Argonauts, Lib. i. 545:
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- μακραὶ δ ̓ αἰὲν ἐλευκαίνοντο κέλευθοι -
- makrai d' aien eleukainonto keleuthoi -
“The long paths were always white”
So Catullus, in Epith. Pelei:
Totaque remigio spumis incanuit unda.
And Ovid, Epis. Oeno:
- remis eruta canet aqua.
The rapid motion of an aquatic animal through the water will produce the effect here referred to.
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 path--the foam on his track.
path--the foam on his track.
hoary--as hair of the aged.
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 32. Hoary — This figure (comparing the foaming water…
32. Hoary — This figure (comparing the foaming water to hair white with age) is one of great dignity, and is common in the classics. For instance, Homer (Iliad, 1:350) speaks of “the hoary sea,” and Moschus of “the hoary deep.” — Id., Job_5:5.
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 32. The verse refers to the shining track which…
32. The verse refers to the shining track which his swift darting through the water leaves behind him.
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.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain He maketh a path to shine after him; one…
He maketh a path to shine after him; one would think the deep to be hoary. He leaves a white trail behind him as he passes from sand-bank to sand-bank through the shallows. It is as if the Nile had grown old and put on hoar hairs.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain He maketh a path to shine after him.
Job_41:32
He maketh a path to shine after him.
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Phosphorescence
What was that illumined path? It was phosphorescence. You find it in the wake of a ship in the night, especially after rough weather. Phosphorescence is the lightning of the sea. I found a book of John Ruskin, and the first sentence my eyes fell upon was his description of phosphorescence, in which he calls it the lightning of the sea. It is the waves of the sea diamonded; it is the inflorescence of the billows; the waves of the sea crimsoned, as was the deep after the sea fight of Lepanto; the waves of the sea on fire. There are times when from horizon to horizon the entire ocean seems in conflagration with this strange splendor, as it changes every moment to tamer or more dazzling colour on all sides of you. You sit looking over the rail of the yacht or ocean steamer, watching and waiting to see what new thing the God of beauty will do with the Atlantic. This phosphorescence is the appearance of myriads of the animal kingdom rising, falling, flashing, living, dying. These luminous animalcules for nearly one hundred and fifty years have been the study of naturalists and the fascination of all who have brain enough to think. Now God, who puts in His Bible nothing trivial or useless, calls the attention of Job, the greatest scientist of his day, to this phosphorescence, and as the leviathan of the deep sweeps past, points out the fact that He maketh a path to shine after him. (T. De Witt Talmage.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.