What Does Job 41:1 Mean in the King James?
Canst thou draw out leviathan with an hook? or his tongue with a cord which thou lettest down?
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
A hook can touch Leviathan without making him answer to you.
THE MEANING
You face a force that does not become manageable merely because you can reach it. The question draws a line between contact and command: a hook may enter the water, yet Leviathan remains beyond your grasp.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The verse undoes the belief that every force can be controlled if you find the right tool.
THE ROOT
תִּמְשֹׁךְ
timshokh
GROWS FROM
משך
m-sh-k
To draw, pull, stretch, or prolong.
“draw out” in this verse is timshokh. The same root can describe a physical pull or something drawn onward over time. English words such as “drawn” and “continue” separate those images, but the Hebrew keeps the sense of an extending pull.
ALSO GROWS
meshakhtikh: Drawn or pulled toward.
מְשַׁכְתִּיךְ
The same root describes being drawn by faithful love, giving the verb a relational reach beyond hauling something into human grasp.
meshōkh: Draw out or prolong; rendered “continue” in the KJV.
מְשֹׁךְ
The KJV’s “continue” carries the hidden image of drawing love onward, showing that this root can name an ongoing extension as well as a physical pull.
לִוְיָתָן
liwyātān
GROWS FROM
לוה
l-w-h
To join or twine; the name is connected with the image of something coiled or wreathed.
Leviathan’s name carries the sense of something joined or coiled into itself. The question sets a human line against a force whose name evokes something difficult to unravel and haul into reach.
ALSO GROWS
liwyat chen: An encircling ornament or wreath.
לִוְיַת חֵן
The wreath image preserves the root’s sense of something twined around, illuminating the coiled quality carried by Leviathan’s name.
yillāweh: Be joined or attached.
יִלָּוֶה
This branch makes the root’s joining sense plain: Leviathan’s name evokes not a loose shape, but something bound or twisted together.
THE PATTERN
Forces beyond human grasp still remain within the limits and command of God.
And said, Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further: and here shall thy proud waves be stayed?There go the ships: there is that leviathan, whom thou hast made to play therein.And he arose, and rebuked the wind, and said unto the sea, Peace, be still. And the wind ceased, and there was a great calm.THE THREAD
The LORD hath appeared of old unto me, saying, Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love: therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee.The same verb that names the attempt to draw Leviathan describes you being drawn by faithful love. One line cannot haul the creature into human control, while love reaches toward you and draws you near.
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