John Gill 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 an hook into his nose ?
&c.] Or a rush, that is, a rope made of rushes; for of such ropes were made, as Pliny ^F7 affirms;

or bore his jaw through with a thorn ?
as men do herrings, or such like small fish, for the convenience of carrying them, or hanging them up to dry; the whale is not to be used in such a manner: but the Tentyritae, a people in Egypt, great enemies to crocodiles, had methods of taking thorn in nets, and of binding and bridling them, and carrying them as they pleased ^F8 .

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FOOTNOTES:

• F7: Nat. Hist. l. 19. c. 2.
• F8: Strabo. Geograph. l. 17. p. 560. Aelian. de Animal. l. 10. c. 21. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 8. c. 25.