Verse Lens · Context pointer
Job 40:17 Explained in Context
Use this verse as a doorway into the larger passage—not as an isolated saying.
Verse 17. 17He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together.
King James Version — public domain in the United States · Bible text and permissions
Role in This Section
Job 40:17 advances the thought unit with the words “He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together.” The LORD states “He moveth his tail like a cedar” as one poetic claim in Behemoth Displays Created Power Beyond Human Mastery.
Read It With
- Job 40:15–40:24
Read Job 40:17 with 40:15–40:24. Read alone, “He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together” could lose its speaker, the question or claim it develops, and the unit's outcome. The complete movement establishes: The LORD directs Job to Behemoth, a grass-eating yet immensely powerful creature at home among reeds, river, and other animals.
Why It Needs Context
Job 40:17 depends on 40:15–40:24; isolating “He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together” would detach a poetic premise, image, response, or transition from The LORD and “Behemoth Displays Created Power Beyond Human Mastery.”
Read Job 40:15–24 together
Why these verses belong together: Job 40:15–40:24 follows the pinned KJV paragraphing and holds together one sustained divine-speech movement: “Behemoth Displays Created Power Beyond Human Mastery.” The next unit begins with a new stanza, question sequence, scene, speaker response, or rhetorical turn.
Verse 15. 15 Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox.
Verse 16. 16 Lo now, his strength is in his loins, and his force is in the navel of his belly.
Verse 17. 17 He moveth his tail like a cedar: the sinews of his stones are wrapped together.
Verse 18. 18 His bones are as strong pieces of brass; his bones are like bars of iron.
Verse 19. 19 He is the chief of the ways of God: he that made him can make his sword to approach unto him.
Verse 20. 20 Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play.
Verse 21. 21 He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens.
Verse 22. 22 The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about.
Verse 23. 23 Behold, he drinketh up a river, and hasteth not: he trusteth that he can draw up Jordan into his mouth.
Verse 24. 24 He taketh it with his eyes: his nose pierceth through snares.
Continue in Context
The full thought-unit study remains the final contextual authority for this Verse Lens.
Read Job 40:15–40:24 — Behemoth Displays Created Power Beyond Human MasterySources used for this context pointer
How certain is this explanation? strong
These are the sources used directly for this lens. Language, grammar, disagreements, and the complete source shelf remain attached to the full thought-unit research record.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact displayed KJV wording, verse order, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete thought-unit coverage.
Exact location: Job 40:15–40:24, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM-derived repository corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Job
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording and morphology checked at the exact unit without treating morphology as a complete apparatus or interpretation.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Job.xml, OSIS 40:15–40:24
Open the fixed Hebrew Job file ↗