Will traders barter for him? Will they part him among the merchants?
Parallel Translations
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Will traders barter for him? Will they part him among the merchants?
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Shall the companions make a banquet of him? shall they part him among the merchants?
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(40-30) Will the bands of fishermen make a banquet of him? Will they part him among the merchants?
Cross-references (1)
Passages linked to Job 41:6 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Judges 14:11 When they saw him, they brought thirty companions to be with him.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Job 41:6 Shall the companions make a banquet of…
Job 41:6 Shall the companions make a banquet of him? shall they part him among the merchants?
Ver. 6. Shall the companions make a banquet of him?] The Cetarii, whale fishers, who usually go out in companies. It was anciently held impossible, and is still perilous, to take the whale and make a banquet of him; as the tongue and some other parts of the whale are good meat. Or, Make a banquet for him; shall they feast those merchants they mean to sell him to, that they may get the better price for him?
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Shall they part him among the merchants?] Who might sell him out for sundry uses. See Job 41:1.
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 Thy companions; thy friends or assistants in the taking…
Thy companions; thy friends or assistants in the taking of him.
Make a banquet of him, i.e. feed upon him. Or, for him, i.e. for joy that thou hast taken him.
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Shall they part him among the merchants? as is usual in such cases, that all who are partners in the labour amid hazard may partake of the profit also, and divide the spoil.
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 Shall thy companions make a banquet of him?.... The…
Shall thy companions make a banquet of him?.... The fishermen that join together in catching fish, shall they make a feast for joy at taking the leviathan? which suggests that he is not to be taken by them, and so they have no opportunity or occasion for a feast: or will they feed on him? the flesh of crocodiles is by some eaten, and said (m) to be very savoury, but not the flesh of the whale;
shall they part him among the merchants? this seems to favour the crocodile, which is no part of merchandise, and to be against the whale, which, at least in our age, occasions a considerable trade for the sake of the bone and oil: but perhaps, in those times and countries in which Job lived, the use of them might not be known.
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(m) Leo Africanus & Aelian. ut supra. (l. 10. c. 21.)
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 6. Shall thy companions make a banquet] Canst…
Verse 6. Shall thy companions make a banquet] Canst thou and thy friends feast on him as ye were wont to do on a camel sacrificed for this purpose? Or, canst thou dispose of his flesh to the merchants - to buyers, as thou wouldst do that of a camel or an ox? It is certain, according to Herodotus, lib. ii. c. 70, that they killed and ate crocodiles at Apollonople and Elephantis, in Egypt.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Shall thy companions make a banquet of him? -…
Shall thy companions make a banquet of him? - This is one of the “vexed passages” about which there has been much difference of opinion. Gesenius renders it, “Do the companions (“i. e.” the fishermen in company) lay snares for him?” So Noyes renders it. Dr. Harris translates it, “Shall thy partners spread a banquet for him?” The Septuagint renders it, “Do the nations feed upon him?” The Vulgate, “Will friends cut him up?” that is, for a banquet. Rosenmuller renders it, “Will friends feast upon him?” The word rendered “thy companions” (חברים chabbâriym) means properly those joined or associated together for any purpose, whether for friendship or for business. It may refer here either to those associated for the purpose of fishing or feasting. The word “thy” is improperly introduced by our translators, and there is no evidence that the reference is to the companions or friends of Job, as that would seem to suppose. The word rendered “make a banquet” (יכרוּ yikârû) is from כרה kârâh, “to dig,” and then to make a plot or device against one - derived from the fact that a “pitfall” was dug to take animals (Psa 7:15; Psa 57:6; compare Job 6:27); and according to this it means, “Do the companions, “i. e.” the fishermen in company, lay snares for him?” The word, however, has another signification, meaning to buy, to purchase, and also to give a feast, to make a banquet, perhaps from the idea of “purchasing” the provisions necessary for a banquet. According to this, the meaning is, “Do the companions, “i. e.” those associated for the purpose of feasting, make a banquet of him?” Which is the true sense here it is not easy to determine. The majority of versions incline to the idea that it refers to a feast, and means that those associated for eating do not make a part of their entertainment of him. This interpretation is the most simple and obvious.
Shall they part him among the merchants? - That is, Shall they cut him up and expose him for sale? The word rendered “merchants” (כנענים kena‛anı̂ym) means properly “Canaanites.” It is used in the sense of “merchants, or traffickers,” because the Canaanites were commonly engaged in this employment; see the notes at Isa 23:8. The crocodile is never made a part of a banquet, or an article of traffic.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Body. Septuagint, "entrails are like brazen shields." Protestants, "His…
Body. Septuagint, "entrails are like brazen shields." Protestants, "His scales are his pride shut up together, as with a close seal." (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Rather, "partners" (namely, in fishing).
Rather, "partners" (namely, in fishing).
make a banquet--The parallelism rather supports UMBREIT, "Do partners (in trade) desire to purchase him?" So the Hebrew (Deu 2:6).
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merchants--literally, "Canaanites," who were great merchants (Hos 12:7, Margin).
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 6. The companions — חברים. There can be but…
6. The companions — חברים. There can be but little question that the word refers to partners in trade. Compare Luk_5:7-10. Fishermen in ancient Egypt were banded together in fraternities or guilds. Ruppell (Reisen, 1:254) speaks of the existence of such fraternities in Abyssinia, even at the present day.
Make a banquet of him? — (Septuagint, Targum, Schultens;) but better, traffic in him, (Ewald, Delitzsch, Zockler,) a meaning for karah which corresponds with the Arabic kara, “to buy,” also with the Sanscrit kri, (kara;) and at the same time helps to confirm the rendering of the same word in Job_6:27, on which see note. The mention of “merchants” in the next clause substantiates such an interpretation, notwithstanding it is against the view of Gesenius and Conant, who, with Winer, (Lex., s.v.,) hold to the radical meaning of the word “to dig,” and read: “Will partners dig a pit for him?” But this substantially repeats what had been said before about catching the crocodile with a hook; and while it does violence to the parallelism, it gives an incongruous meaning. Carey follows Schultens in the speculation “that originally passing the contract of a purchase was signified or ratified by some such act as digging, as being perhaps significant that payment of a purchase was originally made in manual labor or tillage.”
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Merchants — כנענים, literally, Canaanites; unquestionably Phoenicians, who were pre-eminently the merchants of the ancient world. Isaiah, (Isa_23:8,) speaking of the merchants of Tyre, calls them, in the Hebrew, “Canaanites.” In Hos_12:7, Canaan stands as the synonyme of merchant. Homer also speaks of the arrival of a Phoenician merchant, (Φοινιξ,) “skilled in wiles, a greedy knave, working much ill to men.” — Odys., 14:288, 289. These merchants were notorious in the ancient world as slave dealers and kidnappers. The Phoenicians called their primogenitor כנע, (Χνα,) chna, which, according to Sanchoniatho, was changed into Phoenix, thence “Phoenicians.” See Cory’s Anc. Frag., p. 16. A Phoenician coin is still extant bearing the inscription, “Laodicea, Mother in Canaan.” The Septuagint here, as well as frequently elsewhere, renders the word Canaanite, Phoenicians, Φοινικων εθνη. The reference in the text is to caravans like that of the Midianites, which in patriarchal times visited Egypt, bringing back with them various commodities taken in barter. “It is an evidence of the antiquity of this book, unless there is interposed the objection, which grows weaker the more it is studied, that the writer cunningly adapts every thing to the patriarchal times, without ever forgetting himself, or failing in any part of his picture.” — Tayler Lewis.
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 6. The first clause reads,
6. The first clause reads,
Will the partners bargain over him?
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This sense is sustained by the second clause; comp. ch. Job_6:27. By “the partners” is meant the company of fishermen; comp. Luk_5:7; Luk_5:10.
the merchants] lit. the Canaanites. The Phoenicians were the great merchants of antiquity; comp. Isa_23:8; Zec_14:21; Pro_31:24.
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 (6) Shall the companions make a banquet of him?—Or,…
(6) Shall the companions make a banquet of him?—Or, Shall the bands of fishermen make traffic of him? or, dig a pit for him?—the former suiting the parallelism better.
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 Shall the companions make a banquet of him? rather.…
Shall the companions make a banquet of him? rather. Shall the companions make a traffic of him? By "the companions" we may understand either the guilds or companies of fishermen, which might be regarded as engaged in making the capture, or the travelling bands of merchants, who might be supposed willing to purchase him and carry him away. As no one of these last could be imagined rich enough to make the purchase alone, a further question is asked, Shall they part him among the merchants? i.e. allow a number to club together, each taking a share.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.