Job 39:24

24 and he will not believe until the trumpet sounds.

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 He laughs to scorn a king as he meets him, and will by no means turn back from the sword.

23 The bow and sword resound against him; and rage will swallow up the ground:

24 and he will not believe until the trumpet sounds.

25 And when the trumpet sounds, he says, Aha! and afar off he smells the war with prancing and neighing.

26 And does the hawk remain steady by thy wisdom, having spread out her wings unmoved, looking toward the region of the south?