1 Do you go after food for the she-lion, or get meat so that the young lions may have enough,
2 When they are stretched out in their holes, and are waiting in the brushwood?
3 Who gives in the evening the meat he is searching for, when his young ones are crying to God; when the young lions with loud noise go wandering after their food?
4 Have you knowledge of the rock-goats? or do you see the roes giving birth to their young?
5 Is the number of their months fixed by you? or is the time when they give birth ordered by you?
6 They are bent down, they give birth to their young, they let loose the fruit of their body.
7 Their young ones are strong, living in the open country; they go out and do not come back again.
8 Who has let the ass of the fields go free? or made loose the bands of the loud-voiced beast?
9 To whom I have given the waste land for a heritage, and the salt land as a living-place.
10 He makes sport of the noise of the town; the voice of the driver does not come to his ears;
11 He goes looking for his grass-lands in the mountains, searching out every green thing.
12 Will the ox of the mountains be your servant? or is his night's resting-place by your food-store?
13 Will he be pulling your plough with cords, turning up the valleys after you?
14 Will you put your faith in him, because his strength is great? will you give the fruit of your work into his care?
15 Will you be looking for him to come back, and get in your seed to the crushing-floor?
16 Is the wing of the ostrich feeble, or is it because she has no feathers,
17 That she puts her eggs on the earth, warming them in the dust,
18 Without a thought that they may be crushed by the foot, and broken by the beasts of the field?
19 She is cruel to her young ones, as if they were not hers; her work is to no purpose; she has no fear.
20 For God has taken wisdom from her mind, and given her no measure of knowledge.
21 When she is shaking her wings on high, she makes sport of the horse and of him who is seated on him.
22 Do you give strength to the horse? is it by your hand that his neck is clothed with power?
23 Is it through you that he is shaking like a locust, in the pride of his loud-sounding breath?
24 He is stamping with joy in the valley; he makes sport of fear.
25 In his strength he goes out against the arms of war, turning not away from the sword.
26 The bow is sounding against him; he sees the shining point of spear and arrow.
27 Shaking with passion, he is biting the earth; he is not able to keep quiet at the sound of the horn;
28 When it comes to his ears he says, Aha! He is smelling the fight from far off, and hearing the thunder of the captains, and the war-cries.
29 Is it through your knowledge that the hawk takes his flight, stretching out his wings to the south?
30 Or is it by your orders that the eagle goes up, and makes his resting-place on high?
31 On the rock is his house, and on the mountain-top his strong place.
32 From there he is watching for food; his eye sees it far off.
33 His young have blood for their drink, and where the dead bodies are, there is he to be seen.
34 ...
35 Will he who is protesting give teaching to the Ruler of all? Let him who has arguments to put forward against God give an answer.
36 And Job said in answer to the Lord,
37 Truly, I am of no value; what answer may I give to you? I will put my hand on my mouth.
38 I have said once, and even twice, what was in my mind, but I will not do so again.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Job 39
Commentary on Job 39 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 39
God proceeds here to show Job what little reason he had to charge him with unkindness who was so compassionate to the inferior creatures and took such a tender care of them, or to boast of himself, and his own good deeds before God, which were nothing to the divine mercies. He shows him also what great reason he had to be humble who knew so little of the nature of the creatures about him and had so little influence upon them, and to submit to that God on whom they all depend. He discourses particularly,
Job 39:1-12
God here shows Job what little acquaintance he had with the untamed creatures that run wild in the deserts and live at large, but are the care of the divine Providence. As,
Job 39:13-18
The ostrich is a wonderful animal, a very large bird, but it never flies. Some have called it a winged camel. God here gives an account of it, and observes,
Job 39:19-25
God, having displayed his own power in those creatures that are strong and despise man, here shows it in one scarcely inferior to any of them in strength, and yet very tame and serviceable to man, and that is the horse, especially the horse that is prepared against the day of battle and is serviceable to man at a time when he has more than ordinary occasion for his service. It seems, there was, in Job's country, a noble generous breed of horses. Job, it is probable, kept many, though they are not mentioned among his possessions, cattle for use in husbandry being there valued more than those for state and war, which alone horses were then reserved for, and they were not then put to such mean services as with us they are commonly put to. Concerning the great horse, that stately beast, it is here observed,
Job 39:26-30
The birds of the air are proofs of the wonderful power and providences of God, as well as the beasts of the earth; God here refers particularly to two stately ones:-