Job 39

1 if thou knowest the time of the bringing forth of the wild goats of the rock, and thou hast marked the calving of the hinds:

2 and thou has hast numbered the full months of their being with young, and thou hast relieved their pangs:

3 and hast reared their young without fear; and wilt thou loosen their pangs?

4 Their young will break forth; they will be multiplied with offspring: will go forth, and will not return to them.

5 And who is he that sent forth the wild ass free? and who loosed his bands?

6 whereas I made his habitation the wilderness, and the salt land his coverts.

7 He laughs to scorn the multitude of the city, and hears not the chiding of the tax-gatherer.

8 He will survey the mountains his pasture, and he seeks after every green thing.

9 And will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or to lie down at thy manger?

10 And wilt thou bind his yoke with thongs, or will he plough furrows for thee in the plain?

11 And dost thou trust him, because his strength is great? and wilt thou commit thy works to him?

12 And wilt thou believe that he will return to thee thy seed, and bring in thy threshing-floor?

13 The peacock has a beautiful wing: if the stork and the ostrich conceive, ,

14 for will leave her eggs in the ground, and warm them on the dust,

15 and has forgotten that the foot will scatter them, and the wild beasts of the field trample them.

16 She has hardened against her young ones, as though not herself: she labours in vain without fear.

17 For God has withholden wisdom from her, and not given her a portion in understanding.

18 In her season she will lift herself on high; she will scorn the horse and his rider.

19 Hast thou invested the horse with strength, and clothed his neck with terror?

20 And hast thou clad him in perfect armour, and made his breast glorious with courage?

21 He paws exulting in the plain, and goes forth in strength into the plain.

22 He laughs to scorn a king as he meets him, and will by no means turn back from the sword.

23 The bow and sword resound against him; and rage will swallow up the ground:

24 and he will not believe until the trumpet sounds.

25 And when the trumpet sounds, he says, Aha! and afar off he smells the war with prancing and neighing.

26 And does the hawk remain steady by thy wisdom, having spread out her wings unmoved, looking toward the region of the south?

27 And does the eagle rise at thy command, and the vulture remain sitting over his nest,

28 on a crag of a rock, and in a secret ?

29 Thence he seeks food, his eyes observe from far.

30 And his young ones roll themselves in blood, and wherever the carcasses may be, immediately they are found.

31 And the Lord God answered Job, and said,

32 Will pervert judgment with the Mighty One? and he that reproves God, let him return it for answer.

33 And Job answered and said to the Lord,

34 Why do I yet plead? being rebuked even while reproving the Lord: hearing such things, whereas I am nothing: and what shall I answer to these ? I will lay my hand upon my mouth.

35 I have spoken once; but I will not do so a second time.

Job 39 Commentary

Chapter 39

God inquires of Job concerning several animals.

- In these questions the Lord continued to humble Job. In this chapter several animals are spoken of, whose nature or situation particularly show the power, wisdom, and manifold works of God. The wild ass. It is better to labour and be good for something, than to ramble and be good for nothing. From the untameableness of this and other creatures, we may see, how unfit we are to give law to Providence, who cannot give law even to a wild ass's colt. The unicorn, a strong, stately, proud creature. He is able to serve, but not willing; and God challenges Job to force him to it. It is a great mercy if, where God gives strength for service, he gives a heart; it is what we should pray for, and reason ourselves into, which the brutes cannot do. Those gifts are not always the most valuable that make the finest show. Who would not rather have the voice of the nightingale, than the tail of the peacock; the eye of the eagle and her soaring wing, and the natural affection of the stork, than the beautiful feathers of the ostrich, which can never rise above the earth, and is without natural affection? The description of the war-horse helps to explain the character of presumptuous sinners. Every one turneth to his course, as the horse rushes into the battle. When a man's heart is fully set in him to do evil, and he is carried on in a wicked way, by the violence of his appetites and passions, there is no making him fear the wrath of God, and the fatal consequences of sin. Secure sinners think themselves as safe in their sins as the eagle in her nest on high, in the clefts of the rocks; but I will bring thee down from thence, saith the Lord, ( Jeremiah 49:16 ) . All these beautiful references to the works of nature, should teach us a right view of the riches of the wisdom of Him who made and sustains all things. The want of right views concerning the wisdom of God, which is ever present in all things, led Job to think and speak unworthily of Providence.

Chapter Summary

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.