Job 25:6

6. Worm… worm Two distinct Hebrew words. The worms were both kinds bred in putridity. The latter, תולעה , was the insect from which the scarlet colour was obtained, and is used in Isaiah 1:18 as a symbol for sin of the deepest hue, and in Isaiah 41:14 as one of helplessness. It was this worm that destroyed Jonah’s gourd. The Jews say, “that if a man hold a worm in his hand, all the water in Jordan can not wash him clean while he holds it there.” LIGHTFOOT, Works, 7:415. Hengstenberg observes it is very significant for the speech of Bildad that it should have consisted of just five verses, the signature of the half, the incomplete. A continuation of the speech might have led to the renewal of direct reproaches against Job. But these will not cross his lips.