John Gill Commentary Job 41:4

"Will he make a covenant with thee, That thou shouldest take him for a servant for ever?" — Job 41:4 (ASV)

Will he make a covenant with thee ?
&c.] To live in friendship or servitude, as follows;

will you take him for a servant for ever ?
oblige him to serve you for life, or reduce him to perpetual bondage; signifying, that he is not to be tamed or brought into subjection; which is true of the whale, but not of the crocodile; for several authors ^F9 speak of them as making a sort of a truce with the priests of Egypt for a certain time, and of their being tamed so as to be handled, and fed, and brought up in the house.

---

FOOTNOTES:

• F9: Herodot, ut supra, (Euterpe, sive, l. 2.) c. 69. Aelian. l. 8. c. 2. & l. 10. c. 21. Solin. c. 45. Plin. l. 8. c. 46.