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Job 39 Bible study: Is it by your wisdom?
In Job 39 the LORD questions Job about animals, from the mountain goats to the eagle, and says "I" only once: "whose home I have made the wilderness" (39:6). God didn't give the ostrich understanding (39:17), and in Hebrew "Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars" (39:26) uses that very word.
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“Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars, and stretches her wings toward the south?”
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“In Job 39, the LORD says he made the wilderness the wild donkey's home.”
Is that in Job 39, or not? Make your call.
What's really going on
Births no one watches
The LORD is still speaking. His answer began, "Then the LORD answered Job out of the whirlwind" (38:1), and the next heading is "Moreover the LORD answered Job" (40:1); chapter 39 has no heading of its own. It opens with animals nobody keeps: "Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears fawns?" (39:1), and "Can you count the months that they fulfill?" (39:2). Every verb there is the mothers' own: "They bow themselves. They bear their young. They end their labor pains" (39:3). Then the young leave: "They grow up in the open field. They go out, and don’t return again" (39:4). No shepherd appears in these verses. Knowing, watching and counting are put to Job as questions.
Honest questions
Questions people ask about Job 39
That was a taste
The rest of Job 39 is waiting in Favor
- Free, and not yours to harness
- The ostrich and the horse
- The hawk and the eagle
- Where the WEB has "stork"
- Where even the lexicons aren't sure
- 9 questions as you read
- 13 more Hebrew words
- A short check at the end
- Your notes, saved as you go
Favor reads the Bible in order, so you'll reach Job 39 with everything before it in view. First week free, then $10 a month per person.
The Hebrew word behind it
בִּינָהbinahsay bee-NAH
Brown-Driver-Briggs: "understanding". Of the ostrich the LORD says, "because God has deprived her of wisdom, neither has he imparted to her understanding" (39:17). Nine verses later he asks, "Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars" (39:26), and there the WEB's wisdom is this word too. So in Hebrew God didn't give it to the ostrich, and the LORD asks whether the hawk flies by Job's. In the Hebrew of Job it comes nine times; the wisdom of 39:17 is another word, chokhmah.
For your group
Job 39 Bible study questions
- 1The LORD asks Job whether he knows when the mountain goats give birth, and whether he watches (39:1). What goes on in your own life that no one else sees?
- 2"Will the wild ox be content to serve you?" (39:9). Where have you tried to make something serve you that was never yours to harness?
- 3After these questions Job says, "I lay my hand on my mouth" (40:4). When has a question left you with nothing to say?
Leading a group? In Favor, everyone reads Job 39 during the week and answers these questions privately. Answers stay sealed until you meet, then appear together, and you can print the week's sheet.
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Questions
What is Favor?
Favor is a Bible study app that explains every chapter as you read: the Hebrew and Greek behind the words, the details most readers miss, and how each part of the Bible leads to Jesus. Read on your own, or start a Bible study with friends, family or your church.
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Can I read Job 39 straight away?
Favor takes the Bible as one story, in order, so you'll reach Job 39 with everything that leads up to it in view. Start from Genesis, or meet Jesus first in the Gospels. You can read the text of any chapter in Favor's Look up whenever you like.
Do I need a group?
No. Many people read on their own. If you'd like to read with others, start a Bible study and share one link. Everyone's answers stay private until you meet.
I've never really read the Bible. Is this for me?
Yes. Favor starts where you are and explains as it goes. The questions along the way aren't marked right or wrong: you answer, then see what the text shows.
Which Bible does Favor use?
The World English Bible, a modern, readable translation in the public domain. God's name appears as "the LORD", as in most English Bibles.
Is Favor tied to a church?
No. Favor is non-denominational. Where Christians read a passage differently, it shows the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Hebrew and Greek words are checked against the original-language texts and public-domain lexicons. What we believe · Favor home