Do you give strength to the horse or adorn his neck with a mane?
Parallel translations
- WEB “Have you given the horse might? Have you clothed his neck with a quivering mane?
- KJV Hast thou given the horse strength? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder?
- NKJV “Have you given the horse strength? Have you clothed his neck with thunder?
- NASB ¶“Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with a mane?
- NLT “Have you given the horse its strength or clothed its neck with a flowing mane?
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 asks whether Job gave the horse its strength and majestic mane, pressing home that Job creates nothing. The war-horse's power testifies to its Maker, not to man.
Overview
Turning to the war-horse, God begins a vivid portrait of one of the noblest of domesticated animals. The rhetorical questions expose that Job neither made the horse nor endowed it with might. As with every creature in the speech, the horse's strength points beyond itself to the God who fashioned it, summoning Job to humility before the Lord of all life.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Ps 93:1The LORD reigns! He is robed in majesty; the LORD has clothed and armed Himself with strength. The world indeed is firmly established; it cannot be moved.
- Ps 147:10He does not delight in the strength of the horse; He takes no pleasure in the legpower of the man.
- Ps 104:1Bless the LORD, O my soul! O LORD my God, You are very great; You are clothed with splendor and majesty.
- Mark 3:17James son of Zebedee and his brother John (whom He named Boanerges, meaning “Sons of Thunder”),
- Exod 15:1Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD: “I will sing to the LORD, for He is highly exalted. The horse and rider He has thrown into the sea.
- Job 39:25At the blast of the horn, he snorts with fervor. He catches the scent of battle from afar—the shouts of captains and the cry of war.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 39:19 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.