Job 39:11

11 Whether thou shalt have trust in his great strength, and shalt thou leave to him thy travails? (Shalt thou have trust in his great strength, and shalt thou leave thy work for him to do?)

Job 39:11 Meaning and Commentary

Job 39:11

Wilt thou trust him, because his strength [is] great?
&c.] No; tame oxen are employed because they are strong to labour, ( Psalms 144:14 ) ; and they are to be trusted, in ploughing or treading out the corn, under direction, because they are manageable, and will attend to business with constancy; but the wild ox, though stronger, and so fitter for labour, is yet not to be trusted, because unruly and unmanageable: if that sort of wild oxen called "uri" could be thought to be meant, for which Bootius ^F8 contends, Caesar's account of them would agree with this character of the "reem", as to his great strength: he says of them ^F9, they are in size a little smaller than elephants, of the kind, colour, and shape of a bull; they are of great strength and of great swiftness, and not to be tamed;

or wilt thou leave thy labour to him?
to plough thy fields, to harrow thy lands, and to bring home the ripe corn? as in ( Job 39:12 ) ; thou wilt not.

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 Animadvers. Sacr. l. 3. c. 1. s. 14.
F9 Comment. de Bello Gall. l. 6. c. 27.

Job 39:11 In-Context

9 Whether an unicorn shall desire to serve thee, either shall dwell at thy cratch? (Shall a wild ox desire to serve thee, or shall he stay in thy stall?)

10 Whether thou shalt bind the unicorn with thy chain, for to ear thy land, either shall he break the clots of the valleys after thee? (Shalt thou bind the wild ox with thy chain, to plow thy land, or shall he break up the clods of the valleys after thee?)

11 Whether thou shalt have trust in his great strength, and shalt thou leave to him thy travails? (Shalt thou have trust in his great strength, and shalt thou leave thy work for him to do?)

12 Whether thou shalt believe to him (Shalt thou believe him), that he shall yield seed to thee, and shall gather (it) together (for) thy cornfloor?

13 The feather of an ostrich is like the feathers of a gyrfalcon, and of an hawk;