Job 39

1 "Job, do you know when mountain goats have their babies? Do you watch when female deer give birth?

2 Do you count the months until the animals have their babies? Do you know the time when they give birth?

3 They bend their back legs and have their babies. Then their labor pains stop.

4 Their little ones grow strong and healthy in the wild. They leave and do not come home again.

5 "Who let the wild donkeys go free? Who untied their ropes?

6 I gave them the dry and empty land as their home. I gave them salt flats to live in.

7 They laugh at all of the noise in town. They do not hear the shouts of the donkey drivers.

8 They wander over the hills to look for grass. They search for anything green to eat.

9 "Job, will wild oxen agree to serve you? Will they stay by your feed box at night?

10 Can you keep them in straight rows with harnesses? Will they plow the valleys behind you?

11 Will you depend on them for their great strength? Will you let them do your heavy work?

12 Can you trust them to bring in your grain? Will they take it to your threshing floor?

13 "The wings of ostriches flap with joy. But they can't compare with the wings and feathers of storks.

14 Ostriches lay their eggs on the ground. They let them get warm in the sand.

15 They do not know that something might step on them. A wild animal might walk all over them.

16 Ostriches are mean to their little ones. They treat them as if they did not belong to them. They do not care that their work was useless.

17 I did not provide ostriches with wisdom. I did not give them good sense.

18 But when they spread their feathers to run, they laugh at a horse and its rider.

19 "Job, do you give horses their strength? Do you put flowing manes on their necks?

20 Do you make them jump like locusts? They terrify others with their proud snorting.

21 They paw the ground wildly. They are filled with joy. They charge at their enemies.

22 They laugh at fear. They are not afraid of anything. They do not run away from swords.

23 Many arrows rattle at their sides. Flashing spears and javelins are also there.

24 They are so stirred up that they eat up the ground. They can't stand still when trumpets are blown.

25 When they hear the trumpets they snort, 'Aha!' They catch the smells of battle far away. They hear the shouts of commanders and the battle cries.

26 "Job, are you wise enough to teach hawks where to fly? They spread their wings and fly toward the south.

27 Do you command eagles to fly so high? They build their nests as high as they can.

28 They live on cliffs and stay there at night. High up on the rocks they think they are safe.

29 From there they look for their food. They can see it from far away.

30 Their little ones like to eat blood. Eagles gather where they see dead bodies."

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.