It paws the ground fiercely and rushes forward into battle when the ram’s horn blows.
Parallel translations
- WEB He eats up the ground with fierceness and rage, neither does he stand still at the sound of the trumpet.
- KJV He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage: neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet.
- BSB Trembling with excitement, he devours the distance; he cannot stand still when the ram’s horn sounds.
- NKJV He devours the distance with fierceness and rage; Nor does he come to a halt because the trumpet has sounded.
- NASB “He races over the ground with a roar and fury, And he does not stand still when he hears the sound of the trumpet.
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 horse devours the ground in fierce eagerness and cannot be held still at the trumpet's call. His ardor for battle is God-given.
Overview
So eager is the horse that he seems to swallow the ground in his charge and will not stand still when the trumpet sounds. This vivid picture of barely-contained energy testifies to the Creator's craftsmanship. Throughout the speech, each creature's instincts reveal a design Job did not author and cannot fully grasp, humbling him before God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Amos 3:6Does the trumpet alarm sound in a city, without the people being afraid? Does evil happen to a city, and Yahweh hasn’t done it?
- Luke 24:41While they still didn’t believe for joy, and wondered, he said to them, “Do you have anything here to eat?”
- Job 37:20Will it be told him that I would speak? Or should a man wish that he were swallowed up?
- Job 29:24I smiled on them when they had no confidence. They didn’t reject the light of my face.
- Job 9:16If I had called, and he had answered me, yet I wouldn’t believe that he listened to my voice.
- Jer 4:19My anguish, my anguish! I am pained at my very heart; my heart is disquieted in me; I can’t hold my peace; because you have heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
- Hab 1:8–9Their horses also are swifter than leopards, and are more fierce than the evening wolves. Their horsemen press proudly on. Yes, their horsemen come from afar. They fly as an eagle that hurries to devour.
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 39:24 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.