Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.
Parallel translations
- WEB Who provides for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry to God, and wander for lack of food?
- BSB Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God as they wander about for lack of food?
- NKJV Who provides food for the raven, When its young ones cry to God, And wander about for lack of food?
- NASB “Who prepares feed for the raven When its young cry to God, And wander about without food?
- NLT Who provides food for the ravens when their young cry out to God and wander about in hunger?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Who feeds the raven when its young cry out to God and wander hungry? God provides even for unclean, neglected birds.
Overview
The LORD asks who supplies food for the raven's starving young. That even ravens are sustained by God shows the breadth of his providence. Jesus draws on this very picture to assure his disciples of the Father's care (Luke 12:24).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Luke 12:24Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them: how much more are ye better than the fowls?
- Matt 6:26Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they?
- Ps 147:9He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry.
- Ps 104:27–28These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 38:41 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.