Job 39:15

15 and it forgets that a foot might crush an egg, and {a wild animal} might trample it.

Job 39:15 Meaning and Commentary

Job 39:15

And forgetteth that the foot may crush them
The foot of the traveller, they being laid in the ground, where he may walk, or on the sand of the seashore, where he may tread and trample upon them unawares, and crush them to pieces; to prevent which this creature has no foresight;

or that the wild beast may break them;
supposing they may be, though not where men walk, yet where wild beasts frequent, they may be as easily broken by the one as the other; against which it guards not, having no instinct in nature, as some creatures have, to direct to the preservation of them.

Job 39:15 In-Context

13 "[The] wings of [the] female ostrich flap-- [are they] [the] pinions of [the] stork or [the] falcon?

14 Indeed, it leaves its eggs to the earth, and it lets [them] be warmed on [the] ground,

15 and it forgets that a foot might crush an egg, and {a wild animal} might trample it.

16 It deals cruelly with its young ones, as [if] [they were] not its [own], as [if] without fear [that] its labor [were] in vain,

17 because God made it forget wisdom, and he did not give it a share in understanding.

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew "it"; or a collective singular ("them") referring to "eggs" in v. 14
• [b]. Literally "an animal of the field"
• [c]. Or a collective singular ("them") referring to "eggs" in v. 14