Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks? or wings and feathers unto the ostrich?
Parallel translations
- WEB “The wings of the ostrich wave proudly; but are they the feathers and plumage of love?
- BSB The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, but cannot match the pinions and feathers of the stork.
- NKJV “The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, But are her wings and pinions like the kindly stork’s?
- NASB ¶“The wings of the ostrich flap joyously, With the pinion and feathers of love,
- NLT “The ostrich flaps her wings grandly, but they are no match for the feathers of the stork.
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
The ostrich flaps its wings proudly, yet they are not like the loving plumage of the stork. God made even this odd, ungainly bird.
Overview
God introduces the ostrich, whose flashy wings lack the nurturing care seen in other birds. The verse, which has some difficulty in translation, begins a portrait of a creature that seems foolish yet is God's own design. It prepares to show that God's wisdom embraces even what appears senseless to people.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Jer 8:7Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.
- Zech 5:9Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven.
- Ps 104:17Where the birds make their nests: as for the stork, the fir trees are her house.
- Job 30:29I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
- Lev 11:19And the stork, the heron after her kind, and the lapwing, and the bat.
- 2 Chr 9:21For the king’s ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Huram: every three years once came the ships of Tarshish bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.
- 1 Kgs 10:22For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram: once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 39:13 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.