Behold Now Behemoth

"Shall he that contendeth with the Almighty instruct him?… Then Job answered the LORD, and said, Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth. Once have I spoken; but I will not answer: yea, twice; but I will proceed no further."

"Then answered the LORD unto Job out of the whirlwind… Wilt thou also disannul my judgment? wilt thou condemn me, that thou mayest be righteous? Hast thou an arm like God?… Look on every one that is proud, and bring him low… Then will I also confess unto thee that thine own right hand can save thee."

"Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox. Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly. He moveth his tail like a cedar… His bones are as strong pieces of brass… He is the chief of the ways of God… He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens… Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth."

A plural for one beast

Behemoth is the plural of behemah, "beast," used for a single creature: "the Beast par excellence." The library's Greek simply says "the beast" (Greek thēria, "wild beasts"), the Vulgate keeps "behemoth." Note the numbering: Hebrew and English 40:15 is Greek and Latin 40:10.

The hippopotamus

Most modern scholars think the description fits the hippopotamus: grass-eater, huge belly muscles, bones like bronze, lying in reeds and under lotus plants (tse'elim), unbothered by a river in flood. Hippos lived in the Nile and, according to archaeozoologists, along the rivers of the coastal Levant into the Iron Age. Egyptian art shows pharaohs hunting hippos as a symbol of chaos subdued; the Egyptian scene above shows the Nile world where hippos lived.

"A tail like a cedar"

A hippo's tail is short. Defenders of the hippo reading take "tail" (zanav) as a euphemism, or the verb as "stiffens" rather than "moves"; others see the poet exaggerating; some read the whole as a mythic beast. Some modern readers propose a dinosaur, but the passage as a whole (grass-eating, lotus, reeds, Jordan) and the ancient context do not support certainty from one phrase. See the investigation.

Real animal and cosmic symbol

Behemoth is called "the first of the ways of God" (40:19), echoing Wisdom's "beginning of his way" (Proverbs 8:22). Later Jewish tradition (1 Enoch 60:7–8; 4 Ezra 6:49–52; the Talmud) made Behemoth a primeval land monster paired with Leviathan of the sea, to be eaten at the messianic banquet. The poem may combine a real animal with mythic overtones.

Job's first reply

"I am vile" (qallotí) means "I am small, light, of little account," not "I am wicked." Job does not confess sin; he recognizes his limits and stops speaking.