Leviathan: A transliterated Hebrew word (livyathan), meaning "twisted," "coiled."
In
(Job 3:8) Revised Version ("mourning" A.V.), and marg. of
Authorized Version, it denotes the dragon which, according to Eastern
tradition, is an enemy of light; in
(Job 41:1) the crocodile is
meant; in
(Psalms 104:26) it "denotes any large animal that moves by
writhing or wriggling the body, the whale, the monsters of the deep."
This word is also used figuratively for a cruel enemy, as some think
"the Egyptian host, crushed by the divine power, and cast on the shores
of the Red Sea"
(Psalms 74:14) As used in
(Isaiah 27:1) "leviathan the
piercing [R.V. 'swift'] serpent, even leviathan that crooked [R.V.
marg. 'winding'] serpent," the word may probably denote the two
empires, the Assyrian and the Babylonian.
