Job 39:10
in Job 39Can you hold him to the furrow with a harness? Will he plow the valleys behind you?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Canst thou bind the wild-ox with his band in the furrow? Or will he harrow the valleys after thee?
KJV
Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee?
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This verse in Job 39
Commentary
9 notes on this verseWilt thou bind the rhinoceros with thy band to plough? Or will he break the clods of the valleys after thee? 3. By 'crib' in this place, Holy Scripture itself is, not unfitly, understood; in which holy animals are fed with the food of the word. Of whom it is said by the Prophet; Thine animals will dwell therein. [Ps. 68, 10] Hence also our Lord, when born, was found by shepherds in a manger, because His Incarnation is learned in that Scripture of the Prophets, which refreshes us.
This site's exposition
Will the wild ox consent to serve you
on Job 39:9-12
The King James reads unicorn for the Hebrew re'em, which Clarke traces through the older readings and Delitzsch identifies as the great untamable “wild ox”. The questions run through a farmer's year, the “manger”, the “furrow”, the “harness” and the “threshing floor”, and the wild ox meets none of them.
This site's exposition
plow the valleys behind you
Barnes notes that the valleys were the ground a farmer could plow. Hills were dug by hand, as at Isaiah 7:25. Gill adds the harrow that follows the plow, hard work the wild ox refuses.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
Domesticated oxen are fed so that they may be used in the work of plowing. He shows the rhinoceros is not saying "Will you bind the rhinoceros with your strap to plow," as one plows with oxen. Men use oxen for other work, to drag …
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XXXI · Written before 604.
proposed
Wilt thou bind the rhinoceros with thy band to plough? Or will he break the clods of the valleys after thee? [MYSTICAL INTERPRETATION] 31. But he is not only restrained from violence by the hands of God, but, what is more wonderful, is bound to plough; so as not only not to attack men with the horn of cruelty, but, ministering also to their support, to draw the plough of preaching. For he himself speaks of those who are preaching the Gospel, as if they were ploughing: For he that ploweth should plow in hope, and he that thresheth, in hope of partaking the fruit. [1 Cor. 9, 10] He therefore, who had just inflicted tortures on the faithful, and afterwards willingly endures scourges for the faith, who also, by writing his Epistles, preaches in lowliness and contempt the truth which before he fiercely assailed, is doubtless firmly fastened to the plough, and labours for the crop, who used to live in the plain, fatally exempt from fear. Of whom it is rightly said; Or will he break the clods of the valleys after thee? 32. The Lord had, in truth, already entered the minds of some, who believed Him to be truly the Redeemer of mankind. But yet, when they departed not from their former observance, when they kept to the harsh preaching of the letter, the illustrious preacher says to them; If ye be circumcised, Christ shall profit you nothing. [Gal. 5, 2] What else then did he, who in the humble mind of the faithful crushed by refutation the harshness of the law, but break the clods in the valley after the Lord? in order, namely, that the grains of the seeds, which the furrow of the heart, cleft by the plough of faith, was receiving, might not perish by being kept down by the observance of the letter.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow?.... Put the yoke and harness upon him, and fasten it to the plough to draw it, that he may make furrows with it in the field, or plough up the ground as the tame ox does? thou canst not; or will he harrow the valleys after thee? draw the harrow which is used after ploughing to break the clods, and make the land smooth and even? he will not: valleys are particularly mentioned, because arable land is usually in them; see Psa 65:13.
There are creatures that are willing to serve man, that seem to take a pleasure in serving him, and to have a love for their masters; but there are such as will never be brought to serve him, which is the effect of sin.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Canst thou bind the unicorn - in the furrow? - He will not plough, nor draw in the yoke with another? nor canst thou use him singly, to harrow the ground.
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? - That is, with the common traces or cords which are employed in binding oxen to the plow. Or will he harrow the valleys after thee? - The word “valleys” here is used to denote such ground as was capable of being plowed or harrowed. Hills and mountains could not thus be cultivated, though the spade was in common use in planting the vine there, and even in preparing them for seed, Isa 7:25. The phrase “after thee” indicates that the custom of driving cattle in harrowing then was the same as that practiced now with oxen, when the person who employs them goes in advance of them. It shows that they were entirely under subjection, and it is here implied that the ראם re'êm could not be thus tamed.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
to a furrow with his rope (Or did you tie a wild ox because of the furrow of your ox?) rope Heb. עבתו, a rope with which they tie [oxen] to the furrows of the plow.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
Will you rely on him to gather your grain because his strength is great and he can bear great burdens?
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 3 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הֲֽתִקְשָׁר־ | hatikshor- | ¿ will you bind | H7194 → | 44 times |
| רֵ֭ים | reim | [the] wild ox | H7214 → | |
| בְּתֶ֣לֶם | betelem | in a furrow | H8525 → | |
| עֲבֹת֑וֹ | avoto | rope its | H5688 → | |
| אִם־ | ʾim- | or? | H518 → | 1069 times |
| יְשַׂדֵּ֖ד | yesaded | will it harrow | H7702 → | |
| עֲמָקִ֣ים | ʾamakim | valleys | H6010 → | |
| אַחֲרֶֽיךָ׃ | ʾachareikha | behind you | H310 → | 715 times |
הֲֽתִקְשָׁר־¿ will you bind
hatikshor-H7194 →44 times
רֵ֭ים[the] wild ox
reimH7214 →
בְּתֶ֣לֶםin a furrow
betelemH8525 →
עֲבֹת֑וֹrope its
avotoH5688 →
אִם־or?
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
יְשַׂדֵּ֖דwill it harrow
yesadedH7702 →
עֲמָקִ֣יםvalleys
ʾamakimH6010 →
אַחֲרֶֽיךָ׃behind you
ʾachareikhaH310 →715 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 129:3The plowmen plowed over my back; they made their furrows long.
it leads to
- Isaiah 51:23
I will place it in the hands of your tormentors, who told you: ‘Lie down, so we can walk over you,’ so that you made your back like the ground, like a street to…
- Psalms 141:7
As when one plows and breaks up the soil, so our bones have been scattered at the mouth of Sheol.
- Isaiah 51:23
Through
Job 39:5Who set the wild donkey free? Who released the swift donkey from the harness?
it leads to
- Job 11:12
But a witless man can no more become wise than the colt of a wild donkey can be born a man!
- Job 6:5
Does a wild donkey bray over fresh grass, or an ox low over its fodder?
- Job 24:5
Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert, the poor go to work foraging for food; the wasteland is food for their children.
- Psalms 104:11
They give drink to every beast of the field; the wild donkeys quench their thirst.
- Job 11:12
Through
Micah 1:13Harness your chariot horses, O dweller of Lachish. You were the beginning of sin to the Daughter of Zion, for the transgressions of Israel were found in you.
it leads to
- 2 Kings 18:17
Nevertheless, the king of Assyria sent the Tartan, the Rabsaris, and the Rabshakeh, along with a great army, from Lachish to King Hezekiah at Jerusalem. They advanced up to Jerusalem and stationed themselves by…
- Joshua 10:3
Therefore Adoni-zedek king of Jerusalem sent word to Hoham king of Hebron, Piram king of Jarmuth, Japhia king of Lachish, and Debir king of Eglon, saying,
- 2 Kings 18:17
About Job
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXXI; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.