Job 39 - Introduction

TODAY'S ENGLISH VERSION

39 Do you know when mountain goats are born?

Have you watched wild deer give birth?

2 Do you keep track of the months,

and know the time when their young will be born?

3 Do you know when they will crouch down

and bring their young into the world?

4 In the wilds their young grow strong;

they go away and don-'t come back.

5 Who gave the wild donkeys their freedom?

Who turned them loose and let them roam?

6 I gave them the desert to be their home,

and let them live on the salt plains.

7 They keep away from the noisy cities

and no one can tame them and make them work.

8 The mountains are the pastures where they feed,

where they search for anything green to eat.

9 Will a wild buffalo work for you?

Is he willing to spend the night in your stable?

10 Can you hold one with a rope and make him plow?

Or make him pull a harrow in your fields?

11 Can you rely on his great strength

and expect him to do your heavy work?

12 Do you expect him to bring in your harvest,

and gather the grain from your threshing floor?

13 How fast the wings of an ostrich beat!

But no ostrich can fly like a stork.

14 The ostrich leaves her eggs on the ground

for the heat in the soil to warm them.

15 She is unaware that a foot may crush them

or a wild animal break them.

16 She acts as if the eggs were not hers,

and is unconcerned that her efforts are wasted.

17 It was I who made her foolish

and did not give her wisdom.

18 But when she begins to run,

she can laugh at any horse and rider.

19 Was it you, Job, who made horses so strong,

and gave them their flowing manes?

20 Did you make them leap like locusts

and frighten men with their snorting?

21 They eagerly paw the ground in the valley;

they rush into battle with all their strength.

22 They do not know the meaning of fear,

and no sword can turn them back.

23 The weapons which their riders carry

rattle and flash in the sun.

24 Trembling with excitement, the horses race ahead;

when the trumpet blows they can-'t stand still.

25 At each blast of the trumpet they snort;

they can smell a battle before they get near,
and they hear the officers shouting commands.

26 Does a hawk learn from you how to fly

when it spreads its wings toward the south?

27 Does an eagle wait for your command

to build its nest high in the mountains?

28 It makes its home on the highest rocks

and makes the sharp peaks its fortress.

29 From there it watches near and far

for something to kill and eat.

30 Around dead bodies the vultures gather,

and the young vultures drink the blood.

QUESTIONS FOR DISCUSSION 39:1-30

822.

What is the general content of this chapter?

823.

What do you know about ibex? Give at least two facts.

824.

Job is so very ignorant about so many subjectssuch as the pregnancy and birth of hind. What is this fact intended to prove?

825.

What is the thought of verse three?

826.

What can be inferred from the marvelous care God provides for the ibex? Cf. Job 39:4.

827.

If the wild ass is under God's sovereignty, what about man? Is this the point of verse five?

828.

What is said of the salt land?

829.

The wild ass laughs. At what? For what reason?

830.

What is the price of freedom for the wild ass? How does this relate to Job?

831.

Do we have a reference to the unicorn in verse nine? What is discussed?

832.

Please point out the distinction between plowing and harrowing in the possible use of the wild ox as in verse ten.

833.

There is an important principle given in Job 39:11. It is discussed with the ox but it relates to man. What is it?

834.

What is the comparison made in Job 39:13?

835.

Several facts are made concerning the behavior of the ostrich. Name at least two. What is the prominent impression given concerning this bird? Cf. Job 39:14-18.

836.

What is the point of Job 39:19?

837.

The horse is compared to a locust. How?

838.

Give at least two characteristics of the horse described in Job 39:21-22.

839.

The war horse enjoys the conflict. Point out the indications of his satisfaction. Why all this description? i.e., what is the point of it?

840.

God raises the subject of the migrating instincts of birds. Why?

841.

What two birds are discussed in Job 39:27; Job 39:30?

842.

God has placed marvelous capacities in these birds. Name two of them? How is this related to Job?