Job 39:16

she is hardened against Or, she treateth hardly.

her young ones The words refer here to her eggs, from which the young come forth, not to the young brood as the second clause explains.

in vain without fear The meaning is that she is without fear, has no apprehension of danger, and consequently her labour is often in vain "she forgetteth that the foot may crush" her eggs.

The verses refer to the popular belief that the ostrich did not brood but left her eggs to be hatched in the sun; hence she is a type of unnatural cruelty, Lamentations 4:3, "Even the sea monsters (the jackals, Streane, Jerem. and Lam.) draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness." The belief is not sustained by observation, except to this extent, that the bird does not brood till her complement of eggs (thirty in number) be laid, and that during the early period of incubation she often leaves the nest by day to go in search of food. It is also said that she lays a number of eggs outside the nest, which are not incubated but serve as food for the poults when they are hatched.