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Job 39 · a question people ask

"God has deprived her of wisdom" (39:17). What does the LORD say about the ostrich here?

In the text

Read the whole verse, and the one after it. The LORD says of the ostrich, "because God has deprived her of wisdom, neither has he imparted to her understanding" (39:17). In Hebrew deprived is a verb Brown-Driver-Briggs gives as "forget", and for this verse it gives "God caused her (the ostrich) to forget wisdom" (tap deprived). That is the reason the verse gives for how she treats her eggs and her young (39:14-16), and it is the LORD's own statement. The next verse goes on: "When she lifts up herself on high, she scorns the horse and his rider" (39:18). The chapter says nothing more about why God made her so, and these notes add nothing to what it says.

The verses

“because God has deprived her of wisdom, neither has he imparted to her understanding.”
Job 39:17 · World English Bible
“For she leaves her eggs on the earth, warms them in the dust, and forgets that the foot may crush them, or that the wild animal may trample them. She deals harshly with her young ones, as if they were not hers. Though her labor is in vain, she is without fear,”
Job 39:14-16 · World English Bible
“When she lifts up herself on high, she scorns the horse and his rider.”
Job 39:18 · World English Bible

From Favor's study of Job 39

Job 39: 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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Scripture quotations are from the World English Bible, which is in the public domain. Every answer cites the verses it rests on. What we believe · All Bible questions