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Job 39

God confronts Job with creatures whose freedom, strength, and habits expose the limits of human knowledge and command.

God questions Job about mountain goats giving birth and young deer growing strong beyond human watch. His speech moves through creatures that resist human control: the wild donkey, the wild ox, and the swift ostrich. Then come the strength of the warhorse and the flight of hunting birds. Each scene asks what Job knows, commands, or supplies. The chapter ends with an eagle feeding its young where the slain lie.

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1“Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears fawns?
5“Who has set the wild donkey free? Or who has loosened the bonds of the swift donkey,
6whose home I have made the wilderness, and the salt land his dwelling place?
7He scorns the tumult of the city, neither does he hear the shouting of the driver.
8The range of the mountains is his pasture. He searches after every green thing.
9“Will the wild ox be content to serve you? Or will he stay by your feeding trough?
10Can you hold the wild ox in the furrow with his harness? Or will he till the valleys after you?
11Will you trust him, because his strength is great? Or will you leave to him your labor?
12Will you confide in him, that he will bring home your seed, and gather the grain of your threshing floor?
13“The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the feathers and plumage of love?
16She deals harshly with her young ones, as if they were not hers. Though her labor is in vain, she is without fear,
17because God has deprived her of wisdom, neither has he imparted to her understanding.
18When she lifts up herself on high, she scorns the horse and his rider.
19“Have you given the horse might? Have you clothed his neck with a quivering mane?
20Have you made him to leap as a locust? The glory of his snorting is awesome.
21He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength. He goes out to meet the armed men.
22He mocks at fear, and is not dismayed, neither does he turn back from the sword.
24He eats up the ground with fierceness and rage, neither does he stand still at the sound of the trumpet.
25As often as the trumpet sounds he snorts, ‘Aha!’ He smells the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
26“Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars, and stretches her wings toward the south?
27Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up, and makes his nest on high?
30His young ones also suck up blood. Where the slain are, there he is.”
World English BibleRead in NIV in Psalmlog →Highlighted verses are the most connected.
Key verses
Job 39:5The wild donkey’s freedom belongs to God’s ordering of creation, beyond the demands of human work and settlement.
Job 39:19Even the horse that carries people into battle possesses strength that Job did nothing to give it.
Job 39:27The eagle’s ascent and inaccessible nest bring God’s questions about Job’s command over creation toward their close.
Where this chapter reaches

Psalm shares Job’s attention to wild creatures and their habitats under God’s care, while Genesis shares its account of animal life as God’s creation. Jeremiah also uses the image of a horse rushing into battle, drawing on the same fearless movement described here.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

Which creature most challenges your sense of what humans can understand or control, and why?

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How does the closing picture of the eagle affect your reading of God’s speech?

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Questions people ask about Job 39

Why does God ask Job about animals in Job 39?

God’s questions expose the gap between Job’s knowledge and the wisdom that orders animal life. Job cannot oversee wild births, harness every strong creature, or command birds to fly. The speech establishes God’s authority over a world beyond Job’s reach; it offers no direct explanation of his suffering here.

Why does Job 39 say God deprived the ostrich of wisdom?

The poem portrays the ostrich leaving eggs exposed and treating her young without care, then contrasts that lack of understanding with remarkable speed. Verse 17 attributes her limited wisdom to God. The portrait places uneven creaturely gifts within God’s rule without explaining why he distributes them this way.

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Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).