Job 39:7-17

7 He scorns the tumult of the city; he hears not the shouts of the driver.

8 He ranges the mountains as his pasture, and he searches after every green thing.

9 "Is ¹the wild ox willing to serve you? Will he spend the night at your ²manger?

10 Can you bind ³him in the furrow with ropes, or will he harrow the valleys after you?

11 Will you depend on him because his strength is great, and will you leave to him your labor?

12 Do you have faith in him that he will return your grain and gather it to your threshing floor?

13 "The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the pinions and plumage of love?^[a]

14 For she leaves her eggs to the earth and lets them be warmed on the ground,

15 forgetting that a foot may crush them and that the wild beast may trample them.

16 She ⁴deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers; though her ⁵labor be in vain, yet she has no fear,

17 because God has made her forget wisdom and ⁶given her no share in understanding.

Job 39:7-17 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.

Cross References

• 1. Numbers 23:22
• 2. Proverbs 14:4; Isaiah 1:3
• 3. [See ver. 9 above]
• 4. [Lamentations 4:3]
• 5. Isaiah 49:4; Isaiah 65:23
• 6. [Job 35:11]

Footnotes

• [a]. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain