BOOK 18 OF 66 · WISDOM & POETRY · KING JAMES BIBLE

Job 39

Job book home•Chapter 39 of 42•30 verses

Chapter overviewAt a glance + deeper study

REVIEWED OVERVIEW

Job 39 Overview

God continues questioning Job about wild goats, hinds, the wild ass, wild ox, peacock and ostrich, horse, hawk, and eagle. Each creature has abilities, freedoms, limitations, and instincts that Job neither designed nor supplies.

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39Chapter

30Verses

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Before you read Job 39

Coming from

Chapter 38 established the vast scale of God’s wisdom in the structure and ordering of creation.

In this chapter

God narrows attention to living creatures whose lives proceed outside direct human control.

Leads into

Chapter 40 pauses for Job’s first brief response before God resumes with Behemoth.

Key understandingExplore deeper

The animals are not presented merely as useful to human beings. Many live beyond domestication and display qualities Job cannot explain or command. God’s government includes parts of creation that do not revolve around human convenience.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Truth 1

God’s care and rule extend to wild creatures outside human control.

Truth 2

Strength, speed, instinct, and freedom in animals reveal forms of wisdom humans did not invent.

Truth 3

Human inability to domesticate or direct creation underscores the difference between stewardship and sovereignty.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Connection 1

Psalm 104:18-24 praises God for mountain animals, lions, and the manifold wisdom of creation.

Connection 2

Matthew 6:26 points to God’s provision for birds as evidence of His care.

Connection 3

Psalm 147:9 says God gives food to the beast and young ravens.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Keep this clear 1

Do not force each animal into an allegorical symbol of spiritual life; the chapter’s primary force is creation wisdom.

Keep this clear 2

Some animal identifications in older English translation can be debated; the theological point does not depend on modern taxonomic certainty.

Keep this clear 3

The chapter does not teach that creation is tame or harmless; it emphasizes divine wisdom over wildness humans cannot govern.

Read Job 39 watching for…

Animals that reproduce without Job’s supervision.

Creatures that resist domestication.

The surprising description of the ostrich.

The horse’s strength in battle.

The hawk and eagle acting by wisdom Job did not give them.

Chapter outline6 sections

1-4The LORD asks about the birth and growth of wild goats and hinds 5-8The LORD describes the freedom and wilderness home of the wild ass 9-12The LORD asks whether the unicorn can be made to serve man 13-18The LORD describes the ostrich and the wisdom she lacks 19-25The LORD describes the strength, fearlessness, and eagerness of the war horse 26-30The LORD asks whether the hawk and eagle move and nest by Job’s wisdom

Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? or canst thou mark when the hinds do calve?

Canst thou number the months that they fulfil? or knowest thou the time when they bring forth?

They bow themselves, they bring forth their young ones, they cast out their sorrows.

Their young ones are in good liking, they grow up with corn; they go forth, and return not unto them.

Who hath sent out the wild ass free? or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass?

Whose house I have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings.

He scorneth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver.

The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searcheth after every green thing.

Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib?

Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee?

Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave thy labour to him?

Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy barn?

Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks? or wings and feathers unto the ostrich?

Which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in dust,

And forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them.

She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers: her labour is in vain without fear;

Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding.

What time she lifteth up herself on high, she scorneth the horse and his rider.

Hast thou given the horse strength? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder?

Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? the glory of his nostrils is terrible.

He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men.

He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted; neither turneth he back from the sword.

The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear and the shield.

He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage: neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet.

He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom, and stretch her wings toward the south?

Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high?

She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place.

From thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off.

Her young ones also suck up blood: and where the slain are, there is she.

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Job 39:19

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