Albert Barnes Commentary Job 41:2

"Canst thou put a rope into his nose? Or pierce his jaw through with a hook?" — Job 41:2 (ASV)

Can you put a hook into his nose? — Or rather, a “rope,” or “cord.” The word used here (אגמון 'agmôn) means “a cauldron,” or “kettle” (Job 41:20), also a reed, or bulrush, growing in marshy places, and thus a rope made of reeds, a rush-cord. The idea is that he could not be led about by a cord, as tame animals may be. Mr. Vansittart, however, supposes that the words here are expressive of ornaments. He suggests that the allusion is to the fact mentioned by Herodotus: that the crocodile was led about by the Egyptians as a divinity, and in this state, it was adorned with rings and various stately trappings.

There can be no doubt that such a fact existed, but this does not accord well with the scope of the passage here. The object is to impress the mind of Job with a sense of the strength and untamableness of the animal, not to describe the honors which were paid to it.

Or bore his jaw through with a thorn? — Or with a ring. The word here properly means a thorn, or thorn-bush (Job 31:40; Proverbs 26:9), and then also a ring that was put through the nose of an animal to secure it. The instrument was probably made sharp like a thorn or spike, and then bent to become a ring . Mr. Bruce, speaking of the manner of fishing in the Nile, says that when a fisherman has caught a fish, he draws it to the shore and puts a strong iron ring into its jaw. To this ring is fastened a rope by which the fish is attached to the shore; the fisherman then throws the fish again into the water. “Rosenmuller.”