Job 39:9-19

9 "Is [the] wild ox willing to serve you, or will he spend the night at your feeding trough?

10 Can you tie [the] wild ox [with] its rope to a furrow, or will it harrow [the] valleys after you?

11 Can you trust it because its strength [is] great, or will you hand your labor over to it?

12 Can you rely on it that it will return your grain and [that] it will gather [it] to your threshing floor?

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.

18 When it spreads its wings {aloft}, it laughs at the horse and its rider.

19 "Do you give power to the horse? Do you clothe its neck [with] a mane?

Job 39:9-19 Meaning and Commentary

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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Hebrew "wing"
• [b]. Or "flaps"
• [c]. Or "if," or "or"
• [d]. Hebrew "and"
• [e]. Hebrew "it"; or a collective singular ("them") referring to "eggs" in v. 14
• [f]. Literally "an animal of the field"
• [g]. Or a collective singular ("them") referring to "eggs" in v. 14
• [h]. Literally "in the height"