Job 39

1 "Do you know the time when the wild mountain goats bear young? Or can you mark when the deer gives birth?

2 Can you number the months that they fulfill? Or do you know the time when they bear young?

3 They bow down, They bring forth their young, They deliver their offspring.

4 Their young ones are healthy, They grow strong with grain; They depart and do not return to them.

5 "Who set the wild donkey free? Who loosed the bonds of the onager,

6 Whose home I have made the wilderness, And the barren land his dwelling?

7 He scorns the tumult of the city; He does not heed the shouts of the driver.

8 The range of the mountains is his pasture, And he searches after every green thing.

9 "Will the wild ox be willing to serve you? Will he bed by your manger?

10 Can you bind the wild ox in the furrow with ropes? Or will he plow the valleys behind you?

11 Will you trust him because his strength is great? Or will you leave your labor to him?

12 Will you trust him to bring home your grain, And gather it to your threshing floor?

13 "The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, But are her wings and pinions like the kindly stork's?

14 For she leaves her eggs on the ground, And warms them in the dust;

15 She forgets that a foot may crush them, Or that a wild beast may break them.

16 She treats her young harshly, as though they were not hers; Her labor is in vain, without concern,

17 Because God deprived her of wisdom, And did not endow her with understanding.

18 When she lifts herself on high, She scorns the horse and its rider.

19 "Have you given the horse strength? Have you clothed his neck with thunder?

20 Can you frighten him like a locust? His majestic snorting strikes terror.

21 He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength; He gallops into the clash of arms.

22 He mocks at fear, and is not frightened; Nor does he turn back from the sword.

23 The quiver rattles against him, The glittering spear and javelin.

24 He devours the distance with fierceness and rage; Nor does he come to a halt because the trumpet has sounded.

25 At the blast of the trumpet he says, 'Aha!' He smells the battle from afar, The thunder of captains and shouting.

26 "Does the hawk fly by your wisdom, And spread its wings toward the south?

27 Does the eagle mount up at your command, And make its nest on high?

28 On the rocks it dwells and resides, On the crag of the rock and the stronghold.

29 From there it spies out the prey; Its eyes observe from afar.

30 Its young ones suck up blood; And where the slain are, there it is."

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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally pangs, figurative of offspring
• [b]. Or a mane

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.