Bible Strands
Job 41:8
If you lay a hand on him, you will remember the battle and never repeat it!
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses Job directly as He details the invulnerability of the sea monster Leviathan. The declaration occurs within a rhetorical discourse that establishes human incapacity to tame the creature.
The words — The verb זְכֹר (ze.khor) translates as remember, and the noun מִלְחָמָה (mil.cha.mah) means battle. The phrase literally frames the encounter as a remembered combat that ends in permanent withdrawal.
The thread — The motif of facing an insurmountable adversary runs through 1 Kings 20:11, 2 Kings 10:4, and Luke 14:31. Each passage addresses the danger of boasting against a superior force or facing overwhelming opposition without adequate assessment.
Why it lands — The verse commands acknowledgment of human limits when confronting untamable power. It requires the reader to abandon futile resistance and accept the necessity of retreat before engaging an invincible opponent.
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
King James Version
Lay thine hand upon him, remember the battle, do no more.
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 20:11 And the king of Israel replied, “Tell him: ‘The one putting on his armor should not boast like one taking it off.’”
- 2 Kings 10:4 But they were terrified and reasoned, “If two kings could not stand against him, how can we?”
- Luke 14:31 Or what king on his way to war with another king will not first sit down and consider whether he can engage with ten thousand men the one coming against him with twenty thousand?