Page:03.BCOT.KD.HistoricalBooks.B.vol.3.LaterProphets.djvu/1812

 is itself a rose red; and therefore, considered in themselves, its eyes may also be compared with the “eyelids of the dawn.” What is then said, Job 41:19, of the crocodile, Achilles Tatius, iv. 2, says of the hippopotamus: μυκτὴρ ἐπὶ μέγα κεχῃνὼς καὶ πνέων πυρώδη καπνὸν ὡς ἀπὸ πηγῆς πυρός. Bartram has observed on the alligator, that as it comes on the land a thick smoke issues from its distended nostrils with a thundering sound. This thick, hot steam, according to the credible description which is presented here, produces the impression of a fire existing beneath, and bursting forth. The subjective truth of this impression is faithfully but poetically reproduced by the poet. On כּידוד (root כד, escudere). התמלּט signifies no more than to disentangle one's self, here therefore: to fly out in small particles. אגמון, Job 41:19, is rendered by Saad., Gecat., and others, by qumqum (קומקום), a caldron; the modern expositors derive it from אגם = agama, to glow, and understand it of a “heated caldron.” But the word signifies either heat or caldron; the latter signification, however, cannot be linguistically established; one would look for אגּן (Arab. iggâne, a copper Germ. Waschkessel). The noun אגמון signifies, Job 40:2, the reed σχοῖνος, and in the Jerusalem Talmud, Sota ix. 12, some menial service (comp. Arab. ugum); Ew. rightly retains the former signification, like a pot blown upon, i.e., fired, heated, and beside it (in combination with it) reeds as fuel, which in themselves, and especially together with the steaming water, produce a thick smoke. The Waw is to be compared to the Arabic Waw concomitantiae (which governs the acc.).

Verses 22-25
Job 41:22-25