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“Indeed the mountains bring him food, And all the animals of the field play there.
Job 40:20 · New American Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB Surely the mountains produce food for him, where all the animals of the field play.
  • KJV Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play.
  • BSB The hills yield him their produce, while all the beasts of the field play nearby.
  • NKJV Surely the mountains yield food for him, And all the beasts of the field play there.
  • NLT The mountains offer it their best food, where all the wild animals play.

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 mountains yield food for Behemoth while the wild animals play nearby. God provides for and orders the life of even this great beast.

Overview

God describes how the hills produce Behemoth's food and the wild creatures share his habitat. The picture is of a creature at ease in a world God sustains. This providential care reminds Job that the same God who feeds Behemoth governs and provides for all his creatures. Job is invited to trust the Provider who overlooks nothing in his creation.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 4

  • Ps 104:26There the ships go, and leviathan, whom you formed to play there.
  • Ps 104:14He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may produce food out of the earth:
  • Ps 147:8–9who covers the sky with clouds, who prepares rain for the earth, who makes grass grow on the mountains.
  • Job 40:15“See now, behemoth, which I made as well as you. He eats grass as an ox.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (1)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Job videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Job 40:20YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JobMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    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 40:20 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.