Job 39

Berean Standard Bible

Chapter summary

God continues His discourse from the whirlwind by questioning Job about the habits and creation of various animals in the natural world. He asks about the birth and upbringing of mountain goats and the habitat of the wild donkey, which roams the mountains for pasture and avoids the city. God then inquires whether the wild ox would serve Job, stay by his manger, or assist in agricultural labor like plowing and gathering grain. The description moves to the ostrich, which leaves her eggs in the sand and treats her young harshly because God did not endow her with wisdom, yet she can outrun a horse and rider. God also questions Job regarding the creation of the powerful warhorse that paws the valley, rejoices in its strength, charges fearlessly into battle, and eagerly responds to the sound of the trumpet. Finally, God asks if the hawk takes flight and if the eagle soars at His command to build its nest on high cliffs, from where it spots food from afar for its young.

Summary automatically generated from the Bible text.

Words of Jesus in red

¹“Do you know when mountain goats give birth? Have you watched the doe bear her fawn? ²Can you count the months they are pregnant? Do you know the time they give birth? ³They crouch down and bring forth their young; they deliver their newborn. ⁴Their young ones thrive and grow up in the open field; they leave and do not return. ⁵Who set the wild donkey free? Who released the swift donkey from the harness? ⁶I made the wilderness his home and the salt flats his dwelling. ⁷He scorns the tumult of the city and never hears the shouts of a driver. ⁸He roams the mountains for pasture, searching for any green thing. ⁹Will the wild ox consent to serve you? Will he stay by your manger at night? ¹⁰Can you hold him to the furrow with a harness? Will he plow the valleys behind you? ¹¹Can you rely on his great strength? Will you leave your hard work to him? ¹²Can you trust him to bring in your grain and gather it to your threshing floor? ¹³The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, but cannot match the pinions and feathers of the stork. ¹⁴For she leaves her eggs on the ground and lets them warm in the sand. ¹⁵She forgets that a foot may crush them, or a wild animal may trample them. ¹⁶She treats her young harshly, as if not her own, with no concern that her labor was in vain. ¹⁷For God has deprived her of wisdom; He has not endowed her with understanding. ¹⁸Yet when she proudly spreads her wings, she laughs at the horse and its rider. ¹⁹Do you give strength to the horse or adorn his neck with a mane? ²⁰Do you make him leap like a locust, striking terror with his proud snorting? ²¹He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength; he charges into battle. ²²He laughs at fear, frightened of nothing; he does not turn back from the sword. ²³A quiver rattles at his side, along with a flashing spear and lance. ²⁴Trembling with excitement, he devours the distance; he cannot stand still when the ram’s horn sounds. ²⁵At the blast of the horn, he snorts with fervor. He catches the scent of battle from afar, the shouts of captains and the cry of war. ²⁶Does the hawk take flight by your understanding and spread his wings toward the south? ²⁷Does the eagle soar at your command and make his nest on high? ²⁸He dwells on a cliff and lodges there; his stronghold is on a rocky crag. ²⁹From there he spies out food; his eyes see it from afar. ³⁰His young ones feast on blood; and where the slain are, there he is.”

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Louis Segond 1910 and Berean Standard Bible: public domain. Cross references: open-cross-ref, Creative Commons BY 4.0.