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Job39

King James Version · Public Domain

1Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? or canst thou mark when the hinds do calve?

2Canst thou number the months that they fulfil? or knowest thou the time when they bring forth?

3They bow themselves, they bring forth their young ones, they cast out their sorrows.

4Their young ones are in good liking, they grow up with corn; they go forth, and return not unto them.

5Who hath sent out the wild ass free? or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass?

6Whose house I have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings.

7He scorneth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver.

8The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searcheth after every green thing.

9Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib?

10Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee?

11Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave thy labour to him?

12Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy barn?

13Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks? or wings and feathers unto the ostrich?

14Which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in dust,

15And forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them.

16She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers: her labour is in vain without fear;

17Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding.

18What time she lifteth up herself on high, she scorneth the horse and his rider.

19Hast thou given the horse strength? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder?

20Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? the glory of his nostrils is terrible.

21He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men.

22He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted; neither turneth he back from the sword.

23The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear and the shield.

24He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage: neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet.

25He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

26Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom, and stretch her wings toward the south?

27Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high?

28She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place.

29From thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off.

30Her young ones also suck up blood: and where the slain are, there is she.

Study Guide

Public-domain commentary and original-language notes for Job 39.

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Chapter Summary

In this chapter: God inquires of Job concerning several animals. (1-30).

vv1-30

—In these questions the Lord continued to humble Job. In this chapter several animals are spoken of, whose nature or situation particularly show the power, wisdom, and manifold works of God. The wild ass. It is better to labour and be good for something, than to ramble and be good for nothing. From the untameableness of this and other creatures, we may see, how unfit we are to give law to Providence, who cannot give law even to a wild ass's colt. The unicorn, a strong, stately, proud creature. He is able to serve, but not willing; and God challenges Job to force him to it. It is a great mercy if, where God gives strength for service, he gives a heart; it is what we should pray for, and reason ourselves into, which the brutes cannot do. Those gifts are not always the most valuable that make the finest show. Who would not rather have the voice of the nightingale, than the tail of the peacock; the eye of the eagle and her soaring wing, and the natural affection of the stork, than the beautiful feathers of the ostrich, which can never rise above the earth, and is without natural affection? The description of the war-horse helps to explain the character of presumptuous sinners. Every one turneth to his course, as the horse rushes into the battle. When a man's heart is fully set in him to do evil, and he is carried on in a wicked way, by the violence of his appetites and passions, there is no making him fear the wrath of God, and the fatal consequences of sin. Secure sinners think themselves as safe in their sins as the eagle in her nest on high, in the clefts of the rocks; but I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord, Jer 49:16. All these beautiful references to the works of nature, should teach us a right view of the riches of the wisdom of Him who made and sustains all things. The want of right views concerning the wisdom of God, which is ever present in all things, led Job to think and speak unworthily of Providence.

Cross References

Job 39
v1Psalms 104:18thematic

Direct parallel linking wild rock goats (ibex) and high rocks as God's design for wilderness animals.

Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB

v1Psalms 29:9thematic

Sola Scriptura parallel of the Lord's voice causing the hinds to calve/bring forth with difficulty.

Supported by Matthew Poole

v5Jeremiah 2:24thematic

The wild ass in the wilderness, snuffing up the wind, untamed and preferring lonely freedom.

Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB

v27Jeremiah 49:16thematic

The pride of man contrasted with the eagle nesting on high in the crag of the rock.

Supported by Matthew Henry

v13Job 30:29allusion

Verbal link to the ostrich's crying and mournful nature in desolate places.

Supported by JFB

v16Lamentations 4:3thematic

Expressly compares the daughters of Jerusalem to ostriches in the wilderness, being cruel to their young.

Supported by Matthew Henry

v17Job 35:11thematic

Contrast of the ostrich's lack of wisdom with God teaching man more than the beasts.

Supported by JFB

v5Job 6:5thematic

Contrast between the lowing of the domestic ox and the free braying of the wild ass.

Supported by JFB

v6Psalms 107:34allusion

The Hebrew word for 'barren land' translates literally to saltiness/salt places as in Psalm 107.

Supported by JFB

v9Isaiah 1:3contrast

Contrast between the domestic ox knowing its owner's crib versus the wild, untamable unicorn.

Supported by JFB

v30Matthew 24:28thematic

Proverbial parallel used by Jesus: 'for wheresoever the carcase is, there will the eagles be gathered.'

v11 Samuel 24:2thematic

Mentions the actual steep geographical 'rocks of the wild goats' where David hid.

Supported by Matthew Poole, JFB

v5Job 11:12thematic

Proverbial comparison of vain, foolish man to a wild ass's colt needing restraint.

Supported by Matthew Henry, JFB

v7Job 3:18thematic

The wild ass's immunity to the driver's voice matches the prisoners hearing not the oppressor.

Supported by Matthew Poole

v19Jeremiah 8:6thematic

Compares headlong, presumptuous sinners to a war-horse rushing mindlessly into battle.

Supported by Matthew Henry