Job 39:3

3 They be bowed down to [the] calf, and so calve; and they send out then roarings (and then they send out their roarings).

Job 39:3 Meaning and Commentary

Job 39:3

They bow themselves
That they may bring forth their young with greater ease and more safety: for it seems the hinds bring forth their young with great difficulty; and there are provisions in nature made to lessen it; as thunder, before observed, which causes them to bring forth the sooner; and there is an herb called "seselis", which it is said ^F9 they feed upon before birth, to make it the easier; as well as they use that, and another called "aros", after the birth, to ease them of their later pains;

they bring forth their young ones;
renting and cleaving asunder the membrane, as the word signifies, in which their young is wrapped;

they cast out their sorrows;
either their young, which they bring forth in pains and which then cease; or the secundines, or afterbirth, in which the young is wrapped, and which the philosopher says ^F11 they eat, and is supposed to be medical to them. None but a woman seems to bring forth with more pain than this creature; and a wife is compared to it, ( Proverbs 5:19 ) .

---

FOOTNOTES:

F9 Cicero de Natura Deoram, l. 2. Plin. Nat. Hist. c. 8. 32. Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 9. c. 5.
F11 Aristot. ib.

Job 39:3 In-Context

1 Whether thou knowest the time of birth of wild goats in (the) stones, either hast thou espied hinds bringing forth calves? (Knowest thou the time of birth for the wild mountain goats, or hast thou seen the deer bringing forth their calves?)

2 Hast thou numbered the months of their conceiving, and hast thou known the time of their calving?

3 They be bowed down to [the] calf, and so calve; and they send out then roarings (and then they send out their roarings).

4 Their calves be separated from them, and go forth to pasture; they go out, and they turn not again to their mothers.

5 Who hath let go the wild ass free, and who hath loosed the bonds of him? (Who hath let the wild donkey go free, and who hath loosened his bonds?)