Job 39:6-16

6 I gave them the desert to be their home, and let them live on the salt plains.

7 They keep far away from the noisy cities, and no one can tame them and make them work.

8 The mountains are the pastures where they feed, where they search for anything green to eat.

9 Will a wild ox work for you? Is he willing to spend the night in your stable?

10 Can you hold one with a rope and make him plow? Or make him pull a harrow in your fields?

11 Can you rely on his great strength and expect him to do your heavy work?

12 Do you expect him to bring in your harvest and gather the grain from your threshing place?

13 How fast the wings of an ostrich beat! But no ostrich can fly like a stork.

14 The ostrich leaves her eggs on the ground for the heat in the soil to warm them.

15 She is unaware that a foot may crush them or a wild animal break them.

16 She acts as if the eggs were not hers, and is unconcerned that her efforts were wasted.

Job 39:6-16 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 39

This chapter treats of various creatures, beasts and birds, which Job had little knowledge of, had no concern in the making of them, and scarcely any power over them; as of the goats and hinds, Job 39:1-4; of the wild ass, Job 39:5-8; of the unicorn, Job 39:9-12; of the peacock and ostrich, Job 39:13-18; of the horse, Job 39:19-25; and of the hawk and eagle, Job 39:26-30.

Footnotes

• [a]. [Verse 13 in Hebrew is unclear.]