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behemoth (bih-HEE-muhth, BEE-uh-muhth) - n., a large beast; a creature or thing of monstrous size and power.
The original behemoth is described at length in Job 40:15-24 as an example of God's power, for having tamed it, but exactly what kind of animal it was is unclear (it is described in highly mythic terms). In Hebrew, the word bəhēmōth itself appears to be a plural (used as an augmentative form rather than a literal more-than-one) of bəhēmāh, beast, but this is not a certain thing, and it has been suggested it's actually a borrowing of Egyptian pehemau, hippopotamus, literally water-ox. Regardless it's big, and it's not a leviathan (which covered in Job 41:1-34).
---L.
The original behemoth is described at length in Job 40:15-24 as an example of God's power, for having tamed it, but exactly what kind of animal it was is unclear (it is described in highly mythic terms). In Hebrew, the word bəhēmōth itself appears to be a plural (used as an augmentative form rather than a literal more-than-one) of bəhēmāh, beast, but this is not a certain thing, and it has been suggested it's actually a borrowing of Egyptian pehemau, hippopotamus, literally water-ox. Regardless it's big, and it's not a leviathan (which covered in Job 41:1-34).
---L.
