Job 39:13-17 BSB

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

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Job 39:14

14, 15. Yet (unlike the stork) she "leaveth," c. Hence called by the Arabs "the impious bird." However, the fact is, she lays her eggs with great care and hatches them, as other birds do but in hot countries the eggs do not need so constant incubation; she therefore often leaves them and sometimes forgets the place on her return. Moreover, the outer eggs, intended for food, she feeds to her young; these eggs, lying separate in the sand, exposed to the sun, gave rise to the idea of her... read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Job 39:16

16. On a slight noise she often forsakes her eggs, and returns not, as if she were "hardened towards her young." her labour—in producing eggs, is in vain, (yet) she has not disquietude (about her young), unlike other birds, who, if one egg and another are taken away, will go on laying till their full number is made up. read more

Robert Jamieson; A. R. Fausset; David Brown

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Job 39:17

17. wisdom—such as God gives to other animals, and to man ( :-). The Arab proverb is, "foolish as an ostrich." Yet her very seeming want of wisdom is not without wise design of God, though man cannot see it; just as in the trials of the godly, which seem so unreasonable to Job, there lies hid a wise design. 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

Charles John Ellicott

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Job 39:14

(14) Which leaveth her eggs.—The ostrich only sits upon her eggs at night, when the cold would chill and destroy them; by day the heat of the sand continues the process of hatching. 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

Coffman Commentaries on the Bible - Job 39:13

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

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

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Job 39:14

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Job 39:16

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Job 39:17

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

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

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers - Job 39:14

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

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