Leviathan

A transliterated Hebrew word (livyathan), meaning “twisted,” “coiled.” In Job 3:8, Revised Version, and marg. of Authorized Version, it denotes the dragon which, according to Eastern tradition, is an enemy of light; in 41:1 the crocodile is meant; in Ps. 104:26 it “denotes any large animal that moves by writhing or wriggling the body, the whale, the monsters of the deep.” This word is also used figuratively for a cruel enemy, as some think “the Egyptian host, crushed by the divine power, and cast on the shores of the Red Sea” (Ps. 74:14). As used in Isa. 27:1, “leviathan the piercing [R.V. ‘swift’] serpent, even leviathan that crooked [R.V. marg. ‘winding’] serpent,” the word may probably denote the two empires, the Assyrian and the Babylonian.

(jointed monster) occurs five times in the text of the Authorized Version, and once in the margin of (Job 3:8) where the text has “mourning.” In the Hebrew Bible the word livyathan, which is, with the foregoing exception, always left untranslated in the Authorized Version, is found only in the following passages: (Job 3:8; 41:1; Psalms 74:14; 104:26; Isaiah 27:1) In the margin of (Job 3:8) and text of (Job 41:1) the crocodile is most clearly the animal denoted by the Hebrew word. (Psalms 74:14) also clearly points to this same saurian. The context of (Psalms 104:26) seems to show that in this passage the name represents some animal of the whale tribe, which is common in the Mediterranean; but it is somewhat uncertain what animal is denoted in (Isaiah 27:1) As the term leviathan is evidently used in no limited sense, it is not improbable that the “leviathan the piercing serpent,” or “leviathan the crooked serpent,” may denote some species of the great rock-snakes which are common in south and west Africa.

LEVI'ATHAN, the Hebrew name of an animal minutely described in Job 41, the monster of the water, as behemoth was of the land. Probably- the crocodile is here intended — a reptile which resembles the alligator, but is larger and more formidable, with narrower snout, and feet webbed to the end of the toes. "The whole head, back, and tail are covered with quadrangular horny plates or scales, which not only protect the body — a rifle-ball glancing off from them as from a rock — but also serve as ballast, enabling the creature to sink rapidly, on being disturbed, by Leviathan. (Crocodilus Vulgaris. After Tristram.) merely expelling the air from its lungs." — Tristram. It is believed that the crocodile was once abundant in the lower Nile to its mouth, but it is now rarely seen within the confines of Egypt. This reptile once abounded also in the Zerka or Crocodile River, which flows through the Plain of Sharon, and doubtless in the Tigris. The crocodile seems to be meant by the word "leviathan" in Ps 74:14; Isa 27:1. But in Ps 104:26 the word is evidently used for some sea-monster, perhaps the whale. Several large cetaceous animals are found in the Mediterranean.

LEVI'ATHAN, the Hebrew name of an animal minutely described in Job 41, the monster of the water, as behemoth was of the land. Probably- the crocodile is here intended — a reptile which resembles the alligator, but is larger and more formidable, with narrower snout, and feet webbed to the end of the toes. "The whole head, back, and tail are covered with quadrangular horny plates or scales, which not only protect the body — a rifle-ball glancing off from them as from a rock — but also serve as ballast, enabling the creature to sink rapidly, on being disturbed, by Leviathan. (Crocodilus Vulgaris. After Tristram.) merely expelling the air from its lungs." — Tristram.
It is believed that the crocodile was once abundant in the lower Nile to its mouth, but it is now rarely seen within the confines of Egypt. This reptile once abounded also in the Zerka or Crocodile River, which flows through

the Plain of Sharon, and doubtless in the Tigris. The crocodile seems to be meant by the word "leviathan" in Ps 74:14; Isa 27:1. But in Ps 104:26 the word is evidently used for some sea-monster, perhaps the whale. Several large cetaceous animals are found in the Mediterranean.

Part of speech: noun (n.)

1. An aquatic animal, described in the book of Job, ch. xli., and mentioned on other passages of Scripture.

2. The whale, or a great whale. Milton.