Job 39:20

20 Do you make it leap like a locust, striking terror with its proud snorting?

Job 39:20 in Other Translations

KJV
20 Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? the glory of his nostrils is terrible.
ESV
20 Do you make him leap like the locust? His majestic snorting is terrifying.
NLT
20 Did you give it the ability to leap like a locust? Its majestic snorting is terrifying!
MSG
20 Did you create him to prance proudly and strike terror with his royal snorts?
CSB
20 Do you make him leap like a locust? His proud snorting [fills one with] terror.

Job 39:20 Meaning and Commentary

Job 39:20

Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper?
&c.] Which is frightened at every noise, and at any approach of men; but not so the horse; or canst thou move him, or cause him to skip and jump, or rather leap like a grasshopper? that is, hast thou given, or canst thou give him the faculty of leaping over hedges and ditches, for which the horse is famous? so Neptune's war horses are said F17 to be (euskarymoi) , good leapers;

the glory of his nostrils [is] terrible:
which may be understood of his sneezing, snorting, pawing, and neighing, when his nostrils are broad, spread, and enlarged; and especially when enraged and in battle, when he foams and fumes, and his breath comes out of his nostrils like smoke {r}, and is very terrible.


FOOTNOTES:

F17 Homeri Iliad. 13. v. 31.
F18 "Iguescunt patulae nares". Claudian. in 4. Consul. Honor.

Job 39:20 In-Context

18 Yet when she spreads her feathers to run, she laughs at horse and rider.
19 “Do you give the horse its strength or clothe its neck with a flowing mane?
20 Do you make it leap like a locust, striking terror with its proud snorting?
21 It paws fiercely, rejoicing in its strength, and charges into the fray.
22 It laughs at fear, afraid of nothing; it does not shy away from the sword.

Cross References 3

  • 1. Joel 2:4-5; Revelation 9:7
  • 2. Job 41:25
  • 3. Jeremiah 8:16
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