Can you put a rope in his nose…?: rope translates a word for “reed” used also in Isaiah 9.14; 19.15; 58.5 (“rush”). Such reeds were made into ropes. The purpose of putting a rope through the nose of Leviathan would be to control its movements. It would be necessary to pierce the flesh between the nostrils, and pass the rope in one nostril and out the other. Translators should take care not to give the impression that the rope is stuffed up the animal’s nose. It may be necessary to say, for example, “Can you thread a rope through his nostrils?” or “Can you put a ring and rope through his snout?”

Or pierce his jaw with a hook?: hook translates a word whose basic meaning is “thorn,” as used in 31.40. It is used in the sense of hook in 2 Chronicles 33.11. This hook would be much larger than the fishhook in the previous verse. Verses 3-4 treat Leviathan as if he were a human prisoner, and Dhorme cites the treatment of Assyrian prisoners, in which a prisoner’s jaw was pierced and rope put through it. The meaning may be expressed as “Can you pass a hook through his jaw?”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .