WHALE
The largest known inhabitant of the sea, Job 7:12, put by our translators for a Hebrew word including all the huge marine monsters, as in Genesis 1:21. In Ezekiel 32:2, referring to Egypt and the Nile, it doubtless means the crocodile; as also in Psalms 74:13; Isaiah 27:1; Isaiah 1:51; Ezekiel 29:3, where it is translated "dragon." The "great fish" that swallowed Jonah cannot be named with certainty. The Greek word in Matthew 12:40 being also indeterminate. Whales, however, were anciently found in the Mediterranean, and sharks of the largest size.