Job 39
Job Chapter 39, Explained
God continues his tour of creation, focusing on the wild animals. He asks Job whether he oversees the birth of mountain goats and deer, who set the wild donkey free, whether the wild ox will serve him, why the ostrich abandons her eggs, who gave the war horse its fearless strength, and whether the hawk and eagle soar by Job's command. Each creature lies beyond human control.
Key verses from Job 39
“Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? or canst thou mark when the hinds do calve?”
Job 39:1
“Hast thou given the horse strength? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder?”
Job 39:19
What happens in Job 39
God asks Job whether he knows when the wild goats give birth or can number the months of the deer's pregnancy. Who loosed the wild donkey to roam the wilderness, scorning the city and the driver's shout? Will the wild ox consent to serve at Job's crib or plow his furrows? God describes the ostrich, who leaves her eggs in the dust and treats her young harshly, deprived of wisdom by God, yet who outruns the horse when she lifts herself to flee.
Then God turns to the war horse, clothed with a quivering mane, pawing the valley, mocking fear, charging into battle and smelling it from afar amid the trumpets. Finally he points to the hawk stretching its wings toward the south and the eagle mounting to nest on the high crag, spying its prey from far off. All these creatures live by an instinct and freedom that Job neither gave nor governs.
Where Job 39 sits
This chapter extends God's whirlwind answer from the heavens and seas to the untamed animal world. Each creature is wild, beyond human management, yet perfectly provided for and fitted to its life by God. The wildness is the point: Job cannot domesticate or explain these animals, yet God knows and sustains them all. The picture enlarges Job's sense of a world vast, free, and cared for by a wisdom that does not center on human beings.
Themes in Job 39
The wildness of creation. God parades creatures Job cannot tame: the free donkey, the untameable wild ox, the fearless war horse, the soaring eagle. Their wildness declares that the world is not built merely for human use, but teems with life ordered by God alone.
Provision beyond human care. No human oversees the mountain goat's birth or the eagle's hunt, yet each is provided for. God's care reaches into wilderness and crag where no person tends, feeding and fitting creatures for lives entirely outside human management.
Strange and hidden wisdom. Even the ostrich, seemingly foolish and deprived of wisdom, is given her own speed and place by God. Creation includes what looks strange or without sense to Job, reminding him that God's wisdom is broader and stranger than human logic allows.
How Job 39 points to Jesus
God's delight in providing for wild creatures Job never sees, the mountain goats giving birth and the young ravens fed, is taken up by Jesus when he tells his disciples to consider the ravens who neither sow nor reap yet are fed by their heavenly Father, and to notice that not one sparrow falls apart from him. The whirlwind's message, that God sustains a world far beyond human management, becomes in Christ a comfort: if God clothes the wild and feeds the untamed, how much more will he care for his children. The freedom and mystery of creation that humbled Job point to a Father whose providence reaches every corner of a world we cannot control. This is a thematic connection between God's care for the wild in Job 39 and the Father's care Jesus proclaims.
A thought to carry
God fills his answer to Job with creatures no one tends yet everyone marvels at. The eagle nests on a crag you will never climb, and God feeds it still. If his care reaches the wild places, it surely reaches the corners of your life you cannot manage.
A prayer. God of the wild goat and the soaring eagle, you feed creatures I will never see or tame. Teach me that the world is yours, not mine to control. If you provide for the untamed, help me trust your care for what I cannot manage.
Want to sit with this chapter for yourself? Read all of Job 39 in the King James Version, then open The Living Bread to ask any question about it and pray with others, free.
Questions people ask about Job 39
Why does God emphasize animals Job cannot control?
The wild donkey, the untameable ox, the fearless horse, and the soaring eagle all live beyond human management. By parading them, God shows Job a world not centered on human beings or bent to human will, yet fully known and provided for by God. This humbles Job's assumption that he should be able to understand and control his circumstances, enlarging his vision of a vast creation held by God alone.
What is the point of describing the ostrich as lacking wisdom?
God portrays the ostrich abandoning her eggs and treating her young harshly, saying he deprived her of wisdom, yet gave her speed to outrun a horse. The creature that looks foolish still has her God-given place and gift. This teaches Job that creation includes what seems strange or senseless to human eyes, and that God's wisdom orders even what people cannot explain or approve.