Job 39

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¹“Do you know when the wild goats give birth? Have you watched as deer are born in the wild? ✦ ²Do you know how many months they carry their young? Are you aware of the time of their delivery? ✦ ³They crouch down to give birth to their young and deliver their offspring. ⁴Their young grow up in the open fields, then leave home and never return. ⁵“Who gives the wild donkey its freedom? Who untied its ropes? ✦ ⁶I have placed it in the wilderness; its home is the wasteland. ✦ ⁷It hates the noise of the city and has no driver to shout at it. ✦ ⁸The mountains are its pastureland, where it searches for every blade of grass. ✦ ⁹“Will the wild ox consent to being tamed? Will it spend the night in your stall? ✦ ¹⁰Can you hitch a wild ox to a plow? Will it plow a field for you? ✦ ¹¹Given its strength, can you trust it? Can you leave and trust the ox to do your work? ✦ ¹²Can you rely on it to bring home your grain and deliver it to your threshing floor? ✦ ¹³“The ostrich flaps her wings grandly, but they are no match for the feathers of the stork. ✦ ¹⁴She lays her eggs on top of the earth, letting them be warmed in the dust. ¹⁵She doesn’t worry that a foot might crush them or a wild animal might destroy them. ¹⁶She is harsh toward her young, as if they were not her own. She doesn’t care if they die. ✦ ¹⁷For God has deprived her of wisdom. He has given her no understanding. ✦ ¹⁸But whenever she jumps up to run, she passes the swiftest horse with its rider. ✦ ¹⁹“Have you given the horse its strength or clothed its neck with a flowing mane? ✦ ²⁰Did you give it the ability to leap like a locust? Its majestic snorting is terrifying! ✦ ²¹It paws the earth and rejoices in its strength when it charges out to battle. ✦ ²²It laughs at fear and is unafraid. It does not run from the sword. ✦ ²³The arrows rattle against it, and the spear and javelin flash. ✦ ²⁴It paws the ground fiercely and rushes forward into battle when the ram’s horn blows. ✦ ²⁵It snorts at the sound of the horn. It senses the battle in the distance. It quivers at the captain’s commands and the noise of battle. ✦ ²⁶“Is it your wisdom that makes the hawk soar and spread its wings toward the south? ✦ ²⁷Is it at your command that the eagle rises to the heights to make its nest? ✦ ²⁸It lives on the cliffs, making its home on a distant, rocky crag. ✦ ²⁹From there it hunts its prey, keeping watch with piercing eyes. ✦ ³⁰Its young gulp down blood. Where there’s a carcass, there you’ll find it.” ✦

Tap any verse for its study page. Underlined terms mark a concept, person, or place; ✦ marks verses with cross-references.

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.

Where this chapter connects

Job 39 ·8 Ps 104 ·5 Job 41 ·5 Jer 8 ·4 Hos 8 ·3 Gen 1 ·3 Jer 2 ·3 Job 9 ·2

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 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.

Resources, by level

Lay

★ Start hereAudioThrough the WordThrough the Word · ~10 min/chapter · Free · evangelical
A clear ~10-minute audio teaching for every one of the Bible's 1,189 chapters — the most systematic free way to study chapter by chapter.

Pastoral

SermonChuck Smith — C2000 SeriesChuck Smith · Free · evangelical
Free verse-by-verse audio through the entire Bible from the founder of Calvary Chapel.

Commentaries & study tools

VideoBibleProject — Job videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
VideoWatch teaching on Job 39YouTube · Lay · Free
Sermons and chapter teaching from across YouTube.
CommentaryEnduring Word — Job 39David Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical
Readable, verse-by-verse exposition of the whole chapter.
CommentaryMatthew Henry on JobMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
ReferenceBlue Letter Bible — Job 39Blue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free
Interlinear, lexicon, and study tools across the chapter.

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