I heard someone on a podcast use the word ‘behemoth’ , and I realized that I didn’t really know what a behemoth was.
It turns out it’s from the Book of Job, although it reads like it’s from a fairy tale
Take now behemoth, whom I made as I did you; He eats grass, like the cattle. His strength is in his loins, His might in the muscles of his belly. He makes his tail stand up like a cedar; The sinews of his thighs are knit together. His bones are like tubes of bronze, His limbs like iron rods. He is the first of God’s works; Only his Maker can draw the sword against him. The mountains yield him produce, Where all the beasts of the field play. He lies down beneath the lotuses, In the cover of the swamp reeds. The lotuses embower him with shade; The willows of the brook surround him. He can restrain the river from its rushing; He is confident the stream will gush at his command. Can he be taken by his eyes? Can his nose be pierced by hooks? — Job 40:15-24
The film poster below has the Behemoth as a ‘sea monster’. It’s traditionally very much a land monster, with Leviathan as a sea monster, and Ziz as a monster of the air. Great poster though.
