הֲרֹב עִם שַׁדַּי יִסּוֹר. הַאִם שַׁדַּי – אָדָם יִשְׂתָּרֵר?

Will one who contends with the Almighty make himself master? May a man make himself master to contend with the Almighty?

He who argues with God, let him answer it He who comes to argue, let him answer his words.

אַחַת דִּבַּרְתִּי. כְּלוֹמַר: מְעַט אָמַרְתִּי וְלֹא אוֹסִיף עוֹד. וְיֵשׁ פּוֹתְרִים: אַחַת דִּבַּרְתִּי, אֲשֶׁר אָמַרְתִּי (איוב ט:כב) ״תָּם וְרָשָׁע הוּא מְכַלֶּה״, לֹא אֶעֱנֶה עוֹד:

I said one [thing i.e., I have spoken little and I will add no more. Others explain: I said one What I said (above 9:22), “[It is all one; therefore I said,] ‘He destroys both the innocent and the wicked,’” I will no longer answer.

and two What I said (above 13:20), “Do not do two things to me,” I will not add.

הַאַף תָּפֵר מִשְׁפָּטִי. הַאַף תּוֹכִיחַ שֶׁדְּבָרֶיךָ לְהָפֵר מִשְׁפָּטִי, וּלְהַרְאוֹת שֶׁהוּא מְעֻקָּל?

(God’s answer from the tempest) Will you even make void My judgment Will you even prove with your words to make My judgment void and to show that it is perverted?

Bedeck yourself Heb. עדה, an expression of an ornament (עדי) and decoration.

and crush Heb. והדך, an expression of (Num. 11:8), “or crushed (דכו) it in mortars.”

behemoth Prepared for the future.

his strength is in his loins His testicles are squashed and concealed, and have not been completely torn off.

in the navel Heb. בשרירי, like (Song 7:3), “Your navel (שררך).”

hardens Heb. יחפץ like יַחְפּוֹז, hardens. Similarly, in the language of the Sages: דַחַפִּיזָא כִּי אוּפְתָּא (Hullin 47b), hard as wood.

his testicles Heb. פַחֲדָיו.

are knit together Heb. ישרגו, twisted cords, like (Lam. 1:14), “they are knit together (ישתרגו),” or the webbing (שריגי) of a bed in the language of the Mishnah, (Moed Katan 1:8), and it is an expression of twisted cords.

as a load Heb. כִּמְטִיל, as a burden of iron.

He is the first of God’s ways He was created at the beginning to be the chief of all animals.

his Maker The Holy One, blessed be He, Himself will slaughter him.

For the mountains bear food for him And it is written in the Book of Psalms (50:10): “Behemoth upon a thousand mountains.” A thousand mountains bear food for him. He feeds on all of them every day, [and they are grown again the next day].

the shadows the shades of trees.

Do the shadows cover him as his shadow [Does] the shadow of the covert of the reeds and the swamp, which is entangled [or surrounded—Berechiah] and hedged around with [many] trees.

Behold, he plunders the river, and [he] does not harden The Euphrates, which is a large river whose waters increase, he oppresses and plunders from the creatures by his drinking.

and [he] does not harden [His belly does not harden from his drinking, like (verse 17), “His tail hardens.”

he trusts that he will draw the Jordan He is confident [of his ability] to draw the whole Jordan into his mouth were he to drink there: like (Ps. 22: 10), “Who drew me (גחי) from the womb.”

With His eyes He will take him The Omnipresent will take him by looking at him, and he quakes from fear of Him.

with snares Fishermen’s tools, with which they catch fish.

Can you pull the leviathan etc. When you pull him with a harpoon and insert a fishhook into his nose, will he offer much supplication to you? It means that you are unable to approach him with fishing implements.

or press down his tongue Let the rope down (on his tongue) to draw him out of his place.

a fishhook Heb. התשים. It is bent, like (Isa. 9:13), “a large arch and a small arch (אגמן), and it is made of iron to catch fish with it.

Can you insert Will you insert a fishhook into his nose to take him out of the sea?

or...with a barb A fishermen’s implement.

or pierce Heb. תִּקּב, like תִּנְקֹב.

Will he offer much supplication to you Will he offer much supplication to you and beseech you to spare his life?

or will he speak This is a repetitious word.

soft words Words of supplication.

Will he make a covenant with you Will he make a covenant to serve you, that you will take him as a lifelong slave?

Will you play Will you play and stroll with him as though he were a small bird,

and will you tie him to the necks of (other editions: for the sake of) your young lads, that they should stroll with him as with small birds that they give children to stroll and to placate him?

Will charmers dig pits for him Will charmers and sorcerers dig pits to hunt him? To take him out of the sea by means of sorcery [so] that they can divide him and share him among the merchants, as the sea fishermen do? That is, they catch large fish with their cunning, and the merchants come and purchase from them.

dig pits Heb. יכרו, an expression of (Jer. 18:22), digging a pit (כורה שוחה).

charmers Heb. חַבָרִים, an expression of (Deut. 18:11), “a charmer (וְחבֵר חָבֶר).”

Will you fulfill Will you fulfill your desire and make tents of his skin?

or a shade of fishes of his head Will you make from his head a shade of fish? This is a repetitious expression.

a shade Heb. צִלְצַל, a tent of fish. A tent made from his head is called a shade of fish because it is made from him.

צִלְצַל is ombre in French. It is an expression of shadow, and that is one of the double words, like: green (ירקרק), red (אדמדם) [both in Lev. 13:49], twisted (פתלתל) [Deut. 32:5], tattoo (קעקע) [Lev. 19:28].

Put your hand over him Strengthen yourself to wage battle against him, that you will put your hand over him to strike him.

remember the battle, do not stop And do not stop. Remember your might to wage war against him.

and do not [rest] תּוֹסַף is derived from יסף, like (Gen.38:26), “and he did not cease (יָסַף) being intimate with her” (regrettera in French), will regret. [In the expression] אַל-תּוֹסַף, the “sammech” is vowelized with a “pattah” because of the pause accent, as in (Gen. 49:4), “You shall not gain superiority (תּוֹתַר) “; (Ruth 2:14), “and she left over (וַתּתַר),” and many like it.