Whale
Easton's Bible Dictionary
The Hebrew word tan (plural, tannin) is so rendered in Job 7:12 (A.V.; but R.V., “sea-monster”). It is rendered by “dragons” in Deut 32:33; Ps 91:13; Jer 51:34; Ps 74:13 (marg., “whales;” and marg. of R.V., “sea-monsters”); Isa 27:1; and “serpent” in Exod 7:9 (R.V. marg., “any large reptile,” and so in ver. 10, 12). The words of Job (7:12), uttered in bitter irony, where he asks, “Am I a sea or a whale?” simply mean, “Have I a wild, untamable nature, like the waves of the sea, which must be confined and held within bounds, that they cannot pass?” “The serpent of the sea, which was but the wild, stormy sea itself, wound itself around the land, and threatened to swallow it up...Job inquires if he must be watched and plagued like this monster, lest he throw the world into disorder” (Davidson’s Job).
The whale tribe are included under the general Hebrew name tannin (Gen 1:21; Lam 4:3). “Even the sea-monsters [tanninim] draw out the breast.” The whale brings forth its young alive, and suckles them.
It is to be noticed of the story of Jonah’s being “three days and three nights in the whale’s belly,” as recorded in Matt 12:40, that here the Gr. ketos means properly any kind of sea-monster of the shark or the whale tribe, and that in the book of Jonah (1:17) it is only said that “a great fish” was prepared to swallow Jonah. This fish may have been, therefore, some great shark. The white shark is known to frequent the Mediterranean Sea, and is sometimes found 30 feet in length.
International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
hwal:
(1) ketos (Sirach 43:25 (the Revised Version (British and American) "sea-monster"); The So of Three Children verse 57 (the Revised Version (British and American) "whale"); Matt 12:40 (the Revised Version (British and American) "whale," margin "sea-monster"; the King James Version "whale" throughout)).
(2) tannin (Gen 1:21; Job 7:12), "sea-monster," the King James Version "whale."
(3) tannim (Ezek 32:2), "monster," the English Revised Version "dragon" the King James Version "whale" the King James Version margin "dragon."
It will be seen from the above references that the word "whale" does not occur in the Revised Version (British and American) except in The So of Three Children verse 57 and Matt 12:40. Ketos, the original word in these passages, is, according to Liddell and Scott, used by Aristotle for "whale," Aristotle using also the adjective ketodes, "cetacean"; Homer and Herodotus used ketos for any large fish or sea-monster or for a seal. It is used in Euripides of the monster to which Andromeda was exposed. In the Hebrew, in the Book of Jonah, we find dagh or daghah, the ordinary word for "fish": "And Yahweh prepared great fish to swallow up Jonah" (Jonah 1:17). Whales are found in the Mediterranean and are sometimes cast up on the shore of Palestine, but it is not likely that the ancient Greeks or Hebrews were very familiar with them, and it is by no means certain that whale is referred to, either in the original Jonah story or in the New Testament reference to it. If any particular animal is meant, it is more likely a shark. Sharks are much more familiar objects in the Mediterranean than whales, and some of them are of large size.
See FISH.
In Gen 1:21, "And God created the great seamonsters" (the King James Version, "whales"), and Job 7:12,
"Am I a sea, or a sea-monster (the King James Version "whale"),
That thou settest a watch over me?"
The Hebrew has tannin, which word occurs 14 times in the Old Testament and in the American Standard Revised Version is translated "monster," "sea-monster," or "serpent," and, exceptionally, in Lam 4:3, "jackals." the King James Version renders in several passages "dragon" (compare Ezek 29:3 the English Revised Version).
Tannim in Ezek 29:3 and 32:2 is believed to stand for tannin. the American Standard Revised Version has "monster," the English Revised Version "dragon," the King James Version "whale," the King James Version margin "dragon," in Ezek 32:2, and "dragon" in 29:3. Tannim occurs in 11 other passages, where it is considered to be the plural of tan, and in the Revised Version (British and American) is translated "jackals," in the King James Version "dragons" (Job 30:29; Ps 44:19; Isa 13:22; Isa 34:13; Isa 35:7; Isa 43:20; Jer 9:11; Jer 10:22; Jer 14:6; Jer 49:33; Jer 51:37). In Mal 1:3 we find the feminine plural tannoth.
See DRAGON; JACKAL.
Alfred Ely Day
Kilde: Easton's Bible Dictionary (M.G. Easton, 1897) og International Standard Bible Encyclopedia (red. James Orr, 1915/1939), public domain. Translated into Danish with AI and not yet proofread (fully or partially). Links to people and places: Theographic Bible Metadata (CC BY-SA 4.0).