Job 40 — Hebrew and Greek compared
Disparate in this chapter: 40:8
Each card keeps the independently rendered source readings above their shared comparison and reception notes. The badge records the source’s governing classification; disparate readings are marked in red. Each reading retains its original reference.
Chapter 40
Job’s first response, Behemoth and the untamable creature
Source chapters: [BHS40] Hebrew; [LXX40] Greek.
Both actual publisher editions number this chapter through 40:32. Source 40:25–32 corresponds to common English 41:1–8; the original publisher labels are retained.
Verse 40:1 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:1 YHWH answered Job and said:
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:1 The Lord God answered Job and said:
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek explicitly adds God to Lord; Hebrew has YHWH.
Verse 40:2 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:2 “Will one who contends with Shaddai instruct Him?
Let the one reproving God answer this.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:2 “Will he evade judgment with the Mighty One?
Will the one reproving God answer it?”
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Hebrew’s compact opening concerns contention and correction; Greek asks about evading judgment.
Verse 40:3 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:3 Job answered YHWH and said:
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:3 Then Job replied to the Lord:
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both introduce Job’s response.
Verse 40:4 Divergent
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:4 “Look, I am of little account; what can I answer You?
I place my hand over my mouth.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:4 “Why am I still being judged,
being admonished and reproving the Lord,
hearing such things though I am nothing?
What answer can I give to these things?
I will place a hand over my mouth;
Classification & Notes
Divergent. Text: Greek greatly expands Job’s response with judgment, admonition and reproving the Lord.
Verse 40:5 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:5 Once I spoke, but I will not answer;
twice, but I will add no more.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:5 I have spoken once,
but a second time I will add nothing.”
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek lacks the separate first-line denial of answering.
Verse 40:6 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:6 YHWH answered Job from the whirlwind and said:
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:6 Again the Lord replied to Job from the cloud:
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek cloud replaces Hebrew whirlwind.
Verse 40:7 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:7 “Gird your loins like a man;
I will question you, and you make it known to Me.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:7 “No, but gird your waist like a man;
I will question you, and you answer Me.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek begins with an explicit No, but.
Verse 40:8 Disparate
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:8 Will you even annul My judgment?
Will you condemn Me so that you may be righteous?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:8 Do not reject My judgment.
Do you think I have dealt with you for any other purpose
than that you may be shown righteous?
Classification & Notes
Disparate. Text: Greek explicitly presents Job’s demonstrated righteousness as the purpose of God’s dealings; Hebrew asks whether Job condemns God to justify himself.
Verse 40:9 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:9 Do you have an arm like God’s,
and can you thunder with a voice like His?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:9 Do you have an arm against the Lord,
or thunder with a voice like His?
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek against the Lord differs from Hebrew like God’s.
Verse 40:10 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:10 Adorn yourself with majesty and height;
clothe yourself in splendor and glory.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:10 Take up height and power;
clothe yourself in glory and honor.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both command Job to display sovereign greatness.
Verse 40:11 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:11 Pour out the outbursts of your anger;
look at every proud person and bring him low.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:11 Send out angels in wrath,
and humble every insolent person;
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek explicitly sends angels rather than pouring out anger.
Verse 40:12 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:12 Look at every proud person and abase him;
crush the wicked where they stand.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:12 extinguish the arrogant,
and make the ungodly decay immediately;
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek extinguishing and immediate decay differ from Hebrew looking and crushing in place.
Verse 40:13 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:13 Hide them together in dust;
bind their faces in the hidden place.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:13 hide them together outside in the earth,
and fill their faces with dishonor;
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek facial dishonor replaces Hebrew binding in concealment.
Verse 40:14 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:14 Then I too will acknowledge you,
that your own right hand can save you.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:14 then I will acknowledge
that your right hand is able to save.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek leaves the saved object unexpressed.
Verse 40:15 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:15 Look now at Behemoth, which I made with you;
it eats grass like cattle.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:15 But look at beasts beside you;
it eats grass like oxen.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek plural beasts replaces the Hebrew name-like Behemoth and lacks I made with you, then shifts to singular it. A particular modern species is not imposed.
Verse 40:16 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:16 Look now, its strength is in its loins,
and its power in the muscles of its belly.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:16 Look, its strength is upon the loin,
and its power upon the belly’s navel.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek navel differs from Hebrew belly muscles.
Verse 40:17 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:17 It stiffens its tail like a cedar;
the sinews of its thighs are woven together.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:17 It set its tail upright like a cypress,
and its sinews are woven together.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek cypress differs from cedar and lacks the Hebrew thighs, whose unusual term can also denote testicles.
Verse 40:18 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:18 Its bones are tubes of bronze;
its limbs are like bars of iron.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:18 Its ribs are bronze ribs,
and its spine is cast iron.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek ribs and spine are more specific than Hebrew bones and limbs.
Verse 40:19 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:19 It is the first of God’s ways;
its Maker brings near His sword.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:19 This is the beginning of the Lord’s formation,
made to be played with by His angels.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek play by angels replaces Hebrew the Maker bringing a sword. The Hebrew sword’s possessive reference may alternatively be the creature’s.
Verse 40:20 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:20 For the mountains bear it produce,
and all the wild animals play there.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:20 Coming upon a sheer mountain,
it brought joy to four-footed creatures in Tartarus.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek entry upon a cliff and joy in Tartarus differ from Hebrew mountain food and field animals’ play. No later identification of Tartarus is inserted.
Verse 40:21 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:21 It lies beneath lotus trees,
in the shelter of reeds and marsh.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:21 It sleeps beneath trees of every kind,
beside papyrus, reed and flowering rush.
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek lists additional marsh plants and general trees; Hebrew names lotus or shade trees.
Verse 40:22 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:22 Lotus trees cover it with their shade;
the willows of the stream surround it.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:22 Great trees are shaded in it,
with shoots and branches of the chaste tree.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek trees being shaded in it reverses the expected direction of shade; chaste-tree branches replace Hebrew stream willows. The Greek passive is retained.
Verse 40:23 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:23 Look, though a river surges, it is not alarmed;
it is confident though Jordan bursts against its mouth.
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:23 If a flood comes, it will certainly not notice;
it is confident that Jordan will strike against its mouth.
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both describe confidence against flooding and Jordan.
Verse 40:24 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:24 Can anyone take it before its eyes
or pierce its nose with snares?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:24 He will receive it in its eye;
catching in a snare, will he pierce a nose?
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek receiving, eye and pronoun references remain difficult. Enskolieuomenos is catching in a snare, directly supported by the Job citation in [LSJ-36069], rather than merely turning about. The lower-case he represents the unnamed masculine agent provisionally; who catches whom is not settled.
Verse 40:25 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:25 Can you draw Leviathan with a hook
or press down its tongue with a cord?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:25 Will you bring a dragon with a hook
and place a muzzle around its nose?
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek dragon and nose-muzzle differ from Hebrew Leviathan and bound tongue.
Verse 40:26 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:26 Can you put a rush cord in its nose
or pierce its jaw with a hook?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:26 Will you fasten a ring in its nostril
and pierce its lip with a band?
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek ring and lip-band differ from Hebrew rush cord and pierced jaw.
Verse 40:27 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:27 Will it multiply pleas to you
or speak tenderly to you?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:27 Will it speak to you with a plea,
softly with supplication?
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both ask about the creature’s submission in pleading speech.
Verse 40:28 Same
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:28 Will it make a covenant with you,
so that you take it as a servant forever?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:28 Will it establish a covenant with you,
and will you take it as an everlasting slave?
Classification & Notes
Same. Text: Both ask whether it can become a bound servant.
Verse 40:29 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:29 Will you play with it as with a bird
or bind it for your young women?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:29 Will you play with it like a bird,
or tie it like a little bird for a child?
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek child and additional little-bird comparison differ from Hebrew young women.
Verse 40:30 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:30 Will companions bargain over it
or divide it among merchants?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:30 Will nations feed upon it,
and will Phoenician clans divide it?
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek feeding nations and Phoenician clans differ from Hebrew trading companions and Canaanites understood as merchants. Hebrew bargain can alternatively mean feast.
Verse 40:31 Different
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:31 Can you fill its skin with harpoons
and its head with fish spears?
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:31 All floating craft gathered together certainly cannot carry
one hide from its tail,
nor its head in fishermen’s boats.
Classification & Notes
Different. Text: Greek inability to transport even its hide or head replaces Hebrew piercing them with weapons.
Verse 40:32 Similar
Hebrew–English: Literal-Smooth (Rabbinic Priority)
40:32 Lay your palm upon it;
remember the battle, and do not do it again.”
Greek–English: Literal-Smooth (Saints Priority)
40:32 Will you lay a hand upon it,
remembering the war taking place within its body?
Let it happen no more.”
Classification & Notes
Similar. Text: Greek explicitly locates the warfare in its body and changes the final warning to a third-person imperative.