Behemoth (Job 40:15)

slider

The Bible has been the most influential text in all of Western culture. It's difficult to understand medieval or early modern or much of modern literature without knowing it...

Prof. Barbara Newman, Northwestern University
from 2006 Bible Literary project

slider

It's not that it's impossible to read some writers without a Biblical background, but that you would miss a whole dimension to their work.

Prof. Steven Goldsmith, University of California at Berkeley
from 2006 Bible Literary Project

slider

I can only say that if a student doesn't know any Bible literature, he or she will simply not understand whole elements of Shakespeare, Sidney, Spenser, Milton, Pope, Wordsworth

Prof. Robert Kiely, Harvard University
from 2006 Bible Literary Project

slider

...there is truth in the remark. "without Tyndale[Bible translator], no Shakespeare"...

Prof. David Daniell, University College London
from The Bible in English

slider

You can't really study Western literature intelligently or coherently without starting with the Bible.

Prof. Gerald L. Bruns, University of Notre Dame
from 2006 Bible Literary Project

slider

...a familiar understanding of Christian doctrine in historical perspective thus contributes to a fuller appreciation of Shakespeare's art, but Shakespeare's art

Prof. Roland M. Frye
from Shakespeare and the Christian Doctrine

slider

In English tradition and also for an American tradition begun by Puritan writers, a knowledge of the Hebrew Bible and the New Testament is even more crucial than classical references.

Prof. Ulrich Knoefplmacher, Princeton University
from 2006 Bible Literary Project

slider

There is no book more important for our culture than the Bible, and it is fundametal to the study of English literature and language.

Prof. David Jasper and Prof. Stephen Prickett
from the Bible and literature

Behemoth (Job 40:15)

Picture description: Elephant
Picture copyright: V. Gilbert and Arlisle F. Beers

bible verse

The Lord said to Job: “Look at the behemoth, which I made along with you and which feeds on grass like an ox.” (Job 40:15)

meaning

Behemoth is a giant creature or object.

origin and application

Behemoth, mentioned in the Book of Job, is believed to be the hippopotamus or the elephant. God used behemoth as a metaphor in His answer to Job’s sufferings. If men cannot control a giant beast that God made, can they stand against God?

example

Some couldn’t help asking what to do if the Armageddon [financial tsunami] that devastated US markets spread to Hong Kong, bringing the behemoth [HSBC] to its knees. -11 March 2009, The Hong Kong Standard

Keywords

behemoth elephant giant

Related Information

NIV official site
Chinese Bible (???)

< Previous Next >

Behemoth (Job 40:15)

bible verse

meaning

origin and application

example

Keywords

Related Information

Search idiom or name

FIND THE ORIGIN OF IDIOMS

From A-Z

Find By Book In The Bible

What's in a name?

Society for English Learning Through Biblical Literature

About Us

Resources