Job 39:20

20 Do you make the horse jump like a locust? It scares people with its proud snorting.

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 But when the ostrich gets up to run, it is so fast that it laughs at the horse and its rider.
19 "Job, are you the one who gives the horse its strength or puts a flowing mane on its neck?
20 Do you make the horse jump like a locust? It scares people with its proud snorting.
21 It paws wildly, enjoying its strength, and charges into battle.
22 It laughs at fear and is afraid of nothing; it does not run away from the sword.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.