Job 39:24

24 Shaking with passion, he is biting the earth; he is not able to keep quiet at the sound of the horn;

Job 39:24 Meaning and Commentary

Job 39:24

He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage
Being so eager for the battle, and so full of fierceness and rage, he bounds the plain with such swiftness that he seems rather to swallow up the ground than to run upon it;

neither believeth he that [it is] the sound of the trumpet;
for joy at hearing it; or he will not trust to his ears, but will see with his eyes whether the battle is ready, and therefore pushes forward. Mr. Broughton and others read it, "he will not stand still at the noise of the trumpet"; and the word signifies firm and stable, as well as to believe; when he hears the trumpet sound, the alarm of war, as a preparation for the battle, he knows not how to ^F1 stand; there is scarce any holding him in, but he rushes into the battle at once, ( Jeremiah 8:6 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

F1 "Stare loco nescit". Virgil. Georgic. l. 3. v. 84. "Ut fremit acer equus" Ovid. Metamorph. l. 3. Fab. 10. v. 704.

Job 39:24 In-Context

22 In his strength he goes out against the arms of war, turning not away from the sword.

23 The bow is sounding against him; he sees the shining point of spear and arrow.

24 Shaking with passion, he is biting the earth; he is not able to keep quiet at the sound of the horn;

25 When it comes to his ears he says, Aha! He is smelling the fight from far off, and hearing the thunder of the captains, and the war-cries.

26 Is it through your knowledge that the hawk takes his flight, stretching out his wings to the south?