Just as in the previous verse Leviathan is too huge to be a plaything for anyone but God, so here he is no ordinary fish to be dealt with in the usual way in the fish market.

The Hebrew word translated as traders refers to a group of fishermen owning a boat between them, and then getting together to bargain over what they have caught, deciding how much each should be paid before the fish are handed over to the merchants. They will divide Leviathan up to sell him as food. He is too big to be sold in one piece, so he has to be cut up. For bargain over see 6.27. The meaning of this verse may be expressed as “Will fishermen argue over how much he will sell for? Will merchants cut him up and sell him?”

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 .