Job 41:5

Can you pet him like a bird or put him on a leash for your maidens?

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — God addresses Job, continuing a series of rhetorical questions about the untamable creature described in the immediate context (Job 41:4–6).

The words — תְּשַׂחֶק (t.sa.chek) means "will you play" or tease, and תִקְשְׁרֶנּוּ (tik.she.Re.nu) means "will you bind" or leash it.

The thread — The motif of human attempts to entertain or control a powerful figure appears in Judges 16:25, while the broader context of revealing hidden power aligns with Job 28:11.

Why it lands — The verse demands a plain acknowledgment that human methods of domestication are structurally incapable of managing what God has made.

Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.

The Hebrew words

הַֽתְשַׂחֶק־ha/t.sa.chek-¿/ will you playבּ֭וֹb/owith/ itכַּצִּפּ֑וֹרka./tzi.Porlike <the>/ bird וְ֝תִקְשְׁרֶ֗נּוּve./tik.she.Re./nuand/ will you bind?/ it לְנַעֲרוֹתֶֽיךָ׃le./na.'a.ro.Tei./khafor/ girls/ your

King James Version

Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens?

Cross-references

Judges 16:25 And while their hearts were merry, they said, “Call for Samson to entertain us.” So they called Samson out of the prison to entertain them. And they stationed him between the pillars.
Job 28:11 He stops up the sources of the streams to bring what is hidden to light.