What Does Job 40:15 Mean in the King James?
Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The immense creature belongs to your world: the Maker says it was made “with thee,” and it eats grass like an ox.
THE MEANING
This verse places you beside a creature whose scale and nature exceed ordinary understanding. Behemoth still belongs to the same act of making as you, and its life is sustained by grass. The world you inhabit is shared with creatures that do not exist for your command.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It loosens the belief that what is vast or unfamiliar belongs to a separate order from you: the Maker names Behemoth as made “with thee.”
THE ROOT
עָשִׂיתִי
ʿāśîtî
GROWS FROM
עשה
to do, make, or bring about
God says, “I made [Behemoth] with you,” placing the creature within the same making as the reader. This root also forms the Hebrew word for a work or deed, linking this verse to the wider language of creation.
ALSO GROWS
ʿāsāh: To make, do, or accomplish.
עָשָׂה
This is the verb’s root form; it keeps the focus on Behemoth as something made, not something outside the created world.
maʿăśeh: A work or deed; something done.
מַעֲשֶׂה
The branch connects Behemoth with the work of making, the same language used for the creatures in Genesis 1:25.
יֹאכֵל
yōʾkhēl
GROWS FROM
אכל
to eat
“eateth” in this verse is yōʾkhēl. The verse describes Behemoth’s life through an ordinary act of eating. Its extraordinary presence does not remove it from the material rhythm of nourishment: it eats grass as an ox.
ALSO GROWS
ʾākhal: To eat or consume food.
אָכַל
This is the root verb behind “eateth,” grounding Behemoth’s immense presence in the act of taking nourishment.
maʾăkhāl: Food or something eaten.
מַאֲכָל
This branch names what sustains a creature; here, the verse makes grass the ordinary provision for Behemoth.
THE PATTERN
The Creator’s making gathers human and animal life into one world while leaving each creature distinct.
And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein.For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him:THE THREAD
And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.Both verses use עשה (ʿāsāh, “make” or “do”) for God’s making of creatures. Genesis names beasts and cattle as good; Job places Behemoth within that same making and says it was made “with thee.”
Read the SDV Bible.
Every verse has a Deep Dive in the app.
The iPhone Bible app with the Selah Decoded Version.
Does something in this reading look wrong? Tell us