Job 39:11

11 Will you rely on it for its great strength? Will you leave your heavy work to it?

Job 39:11 in Other Translations

KJV
11 Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave thy labour to him?
ESV
11 Will you depend on him because his strength is great, and will you leave to him your labor?
NLT
11 Given its strength, can you trust it? Can you leave and trust the ox to do your work?
MSG
11 He's hugely strong, yes, but could you trust him, would you dare turn the job over to him?
CSB
11 Can you depend on it because of its strength? Would you leave it to do your hard work?

Job 39:11 Meaning and Commentary

Job 39:11

Wilt thou trust him, because his strength [is] great?
&c.] No; tame oxen are employed because they are strong to labour, ( Psalms 144:14 ) ; and they are to be trusted, in ploughing or treading out the corn, under direction, because they are manageable, and will attend to business with constancy; but the wild ox, though stronger, and so fitter for labour, is yet not to be trusted, because unruly and unmanageable: if that sort of wild oxen called "uri" could be thought to be meant, for which Bootius F8 contends, Caesar's account of them would agree with this character of the "reem", as to his great strength: he says of them F9, they are in size a little smaller than elephants, of the kind, colour, and shape of a bull; they are of great strength and of great swiftness, and not to be tamed;

or wilt thou leave thy labour to him?
to plough thy fields, to harrow thy lands, and to bring home the ripe corn? as in ( Job 39:12 ) ; thou wilt not.


FOOTNOTES:

F8 Animadvers. Sacr. l. 3. c. 1. s. 14.
F9 Comment. de Bello Gall. l. 6. c. 27.

Job 39:11 In-Context

9 “Will the wild ox consent to serve you? Will it stay by your manger at night?
10 Can you hold it to the furrow with a harness? Will it till the valleys behind you?
11 Will you rely on it for its great strength? Will you leave your heavy work to it?
12 Can you trust it to haul in your grain and bring it to your threshing floor?
13 “The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, though they cannot compare with the wings and feathers of the stork.

Cross References 1

  • 1. ver 19; Job 40:16; Job 41:12,22; Psalms 147:10
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