She treats her young harshly, as if not her own, with no concern that her labor was in vain.
Parallel translations
- WEB She deals harshly with her young ones, as if they were not hers. Though her labor is in vain, she is without fear,
- KJV She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers: her labour is in vain without fear;
- NKJV She treats her young harshly, as though they were not hers; Her labor is in vain, without concern,
- NASB “She treats her young cruelly, as if they were not hers; Though her labor is for nothing, she is unconcerned,
- NLT She is harsh toward her young, as if they were not her own. She doesn’t care if they die.
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
God describes the ostrich, which seems to neglect her young and labors without apparent reward, yet lives without fear. It shows that God's creatures display a wisdom and design beyond human accounting.
Overview
Continuing his survey of the wild creatures, God highlights the ostrich, whose seemingly careless treatment of her eggs and young puzzles human observers. The point is not to praise cruelty but to display how God's ordering of creation surpasses Job's understanding. Even what looks foolish to us falls under the Creator's wise governance, calling Job to humble trust rather than complaint.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Lam 4:3Even jackals offer their breasts to nurse their young, but the daughter of my people has become cruel, like an ostrich in the wilderness.
- Rom 1:31They are senseless, faithless, heartless, merciless.
- Deut 28:56–57The most gentle and refined woman among you, so gentle and refined she would not venture to set the sole of her foot on the ground, will begrudge the husband she embraces and her son and daughter
- Eccl 10:15The toil of a fool wearies him, for he does not know the way to the city.
- 1 Kgs 3:26–27Then the woman whose son was alive spoke to the king because she yearned with compassion for her son. “Please, my lord,” she said, “give her the living baby. Do not kill him!” But the other woman said, “He will be neither mine nor yours. Cut him in two!”
- Lam 2:20Look, O LORD, and consider: Whom have You ever treated like this? Should women eat their offspring, the infants they have nurtured? Should priests and prophets be killed in the sanctuary of the Lord?
- Hab 2:13Is it not indeed from the LORD of Hosts that the labor of the people only feeds the fire, and the nations weary themselves in vain?
- 2 Kgs 6:28–29Then the king asked her, “What is the matter?” And she answered, “This woman said to me, ‘Give up your son, that we may eat him, and tomorrow we will eat my son.’
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 39:16 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.