Job 39:13

Bridgeway Bible Commentary - Job 39:1-30

Control of the animal world (38:39-39:30)The pressure on Job increases as God continues with his unanswerable questions. From the natural world in general, God moves to the animal world. He draws Job’s attention to animals that sometimes appear to have no purpose so far as human life is concerned, but are still part of God’s ordering of the world.God asks Job if he is able to order nature by providing wild animals with food (39-41), while protecting timid animals when they give birth and care... read more

E.W. Bullinger

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes - Job 39:13

Gavest thou. The Ellipsis ( App-6 ) is correctly supplied. read more

James Burton Coffman

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Job 39:13

HOW HAS A STUPID BIRD LIKE THE OSTRICH SURVIVED?"The wings of the ostrich wave proudly;But are the pinions and plumage of love?For she leaveth her eggs on the earth,And warmeth them in the dust,And forgetteth that the foot may crush them,Or that the wild beast may trample them.She dealeth hardly with her young ones, as if they were not hers:Though her labor be in vain, she is without fear;Because God hath deprived her of wisdom,Neither hath he imparted to her understanding.What time she lifteth... read more

Thomas Coke

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible - Job 39:13-18

Job 39:13-18. Goodly wings unto the peacocks— Bochart seems to have proved, beyond all dispute, that the word rendered peacocks signifies ostriches; and the following description entirely agrees with that opinion. Mr. Heath renders the verse, The wing of the ostrich is triumphantly expanded, though the strong pinion be the portion of the stork and the falcon; Job 39:14 though she leaves her eggs, &c. Dr. Shaw renders the verse The wing of the ostrich is quivering or expanded, the very... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Job 39:13

13. Rather, "the wing of the ostrich hen"—literally, "the crying bird"; as the Arab name for it means "song"; referring to its night cries (Job 30:29; Micah 1:8) vibrating joyously. "Is it not like the quill and feathers of the pious bird" (the stork)? [UMBREIT]. The vibrating, quivering wing, serving for sail and oar at once, is characteristic of the ostrich in full course. Its white and black feathers in the wing and tail are like the stork's. But, unlike that bird, the symbol of parental... read more

John Dummelow

John Dummelow's Commentary on the Bible - Job 39:1-30

The First Speech of the Almighty (concluded)Chs. Job 38:39-41 and Job 38:39 depict the wonders of animate creation, and the instincts with which animals are gifted by the providence of God. In view of His works Job must learn to trust Him and to believe in His goodness.1-4. The wild goat or ibex.1. Knowest thou?] i.e. do you control?3. Their sorrows] their young, whose birth causes pain. 4. With corn] rather, ’in the desert.’5-8. The wild ass, which is still found in the deserts of N. Arabia... read more

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Job 39:13

(13) Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks?—Rather, The wing of the ostrich is superb, but are her pinions and her feathers like the stork’s? Ostrich feathers are said to be worth from £8 to £15 a pound; but, beautiful and valuable as they are, they are hardly like the plumage of a bird, and are not so used for flight; on the contrary, the ostrich runs like a quadruped, it is stated at the rate sometimes of fifty or sixty miles an hour. read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Dictionary of Texts - Job 39:1-30

Job 39:1 If the baffled inquirer drops out the search after God, as many do, and says I will go down to nature and it shall, at least, be my comfort that nature is intelligible, and even a subject of definite science, he shortly discovers that science only changes the place of mystery and leaves it unresolved.... Asking what is matter, what is life, animal and vegetable, what is heat, light, attraction, affinity, he discovers that, as yet, we really comprehend nothing, and that nature is a... read more

William Nicoll

Expositor's Bible Commentary - Job 39:1-30

XXVIII.THE RECONCILIATIONJob 38:1 - Job 42:6THE main argument of the address ascribed to the Almighty is contained in chapters 38 and 39 and in the opening verses of chapter 42. Job makes submission and owns his fault in doubting the faithfulness of Divine providence. The intervening passage containing descriptions of the great animals of the Nile is scarcely in the same high strain of poetic art or on the same high level of cogent reasoning. It seems rather of a hyperbolical kind, suggesting... read more

Arno Clemens Gaebelein

Arno Gaebelein's Annotated Bible - Job 39:1-30

CHAPTERS 38:39--39:30 1. The beasts of prey (Job 38:39-41 ) 2. The wild goats, the ass, the unicorn and the ostrich (Job 39:1-18 ) 3. The horse, the hawk and the eagle (Job 39:19-30 ) Job 38:39-41 . God’s own wisdom and power in nature, as witnessed to by Himself, is followed by His witness as to the sustenance of His creatures, how mercifully He provides for their need. This section begins with the query, “Knowest thou?” Could he hunt the prey of the lion, or fill the ravenous appetite... read more

Group of Brands