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Crocodile, or Leviathan

Archimandrite Nikifor’s Biblical Encyclopedia

(Job 40:20 in the source's numbering) - the name of the enormous serpentlike water creature described at length in Job. The source considers crocodile and leviathan probably identical. Leviathan was treated as a monster of the waters, as behemoth in the preceding chapter was treated as a monster of the land and marsh. The same creature is probably meant elsewhere where Scripture names leviathan (Isa 27:1; Ps 104:26). The psalmist uses the name figuratively for the hardhearted ruler of Egypt: 'Thou brakest the heads of leviathan in pieces' (Ps 74:14). Isaiah similarly employs it as an image of a kingdom hostile to the Hebrews (Isa 27:1).

Scripture cited

Job 40:20Esaias 27:1Psalms 104:26Psalms 74:14

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