Job 39:18
in Job 39Yet when she proudly spreads her wings, she laughs at the horse and its rider.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
What time she lifteth up herself on high, She scorneth the horse and his rider.
KJV
What time she lifteth up herself on high, she scorneth the horse and his rider.
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This verse in Job 39
Commentary
9 notes on this verseShe lifteth up herself - When she raiseth up herself to run away. Proofs of the fleetness of this bird have already been given. It neither flies nor runs distinctly, but has a motion composed of both; and, using its wings as sails, makes great speed. So Claudian: - Vasta velut Libyae venantum vocibus ales Cum premitur, calidas cursu transmittit arenas, Inque modum veli sinuatis flamine pennis Pulverulenta volat. “Xenophon says, Cyrus had horses that could overtake the goat and the wild ass; but none that could reach this creature.
This site's exposition
The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully
on Job 39:13-18
Where the King James has peacocks, the Hebrew has the ostrich. “God has deprived her of wisdom”, so her want of sense is His appointment. Yet she “laughs at the horse and its rider” with a speed no wisdom could buy, so her lack and gift come from one hand.
This site's exposition
she laughs at the horse
Clarke describes her gait as half flight and half run, her wings spread like sails for speed. Aquinas ties this back to the wings of verse 13. Their use appears when she must flee, and then no horse and rider can keep pace with her.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church3 voices
Because he had said already that she has wings like the falcon and the hawk, (v.13) consequently, he shows next what purpose wings serve her saying, "When the time comes," when some necessity of violent movement presents itself to her, "she lifts her wings up …
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XXXI · Written before 604.
proposed
When the time shall be, she raiseth her wings on high, she scorneth the horseman and his rider. 27. For what do we understand by the wings of this ostrich, except the thoughts of the hypocrite, kept close at this time as if folded together? But when the time shall come, he raises them on high; because when an opportunity is found, he makes them manifest by his pride. To raise the wings on high, is to disclose his thoughts with unbridled haughtiness. But now, because he pretends that he is holy, because he confines what he thinks to himself, he folds, as it were, his wings on his body, by humility. But it must be observed, that He says not, The horse and his rider, but, The horseman and his rider. For the horse is the body which belongs to each holy soul, which it knows in truth both how to restrain from unlawful pursuits by the bit of continence, and again to let loose by the impulse of charity, in the exercise of good works. By the name, therefore, of 'horseman' is expressed the soul of a holy man, which keeps the body, its beast of burden, under good control. Whence also the Apostle John, in the Apocalypse, having beheld the Lord, says; And the armies which are in heaven, were following Him on white horses. [Rev. 19, 14] For he rightly calls an army, the multitude of the Saints, which had toiled in this war of martyrdom. And they are said, for this reason, to sit on white horses, because their bodies doubtless were brilliant with both the light of righteousness, and the whiteness of chastity. The hypocrite therefore scorns the horseman, because, when he has burst forth in open iniquity, he despises the sanctity of the Elect; and in his pride calls those fools, whom he used to imitate with cunning art, when kept down by the peace of the faith. […]
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book XXXI · Written before 604.
proposed
When the time shall come, she raiseth her wings on high, she scorneth the horseman, and his rider. [MYSTICAL INTERPRETATION] 42. The ostrich raiseth her wings on high, when the synagogue opposes its Creator, not as before by dreading, but by now openly withstanding, Him. For being changed into the limbs of the devil, and believing the man of lies to be God, it exalts itself the higher against the faithful, the more it boasts also, that it is itself the body of God.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
20 Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? the glory of his nostrils is terrible. 21 He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men. 22 He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted; neither turneth he back from the sword.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
What time she lifted up herself on high,....
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
What time she lifteth up herself on high - In the previous verses reference had been made to the fact that in some important respects the ostrich was inferior to other animals, or had special laws in regard to its habits and preservation. Here the attention is called to the fact that, notwithstanding its inferiority in some respects, it had properties such as to command the highest admiration. Its lofty carriage, the rapidity of its flight, and the proud scorn with which it would elude the pursuit of the fleetest coursers, were all things that showed that God had so endowed it as to furnish proof of his wisdom. The phrase “what time she lifteth up herself,” refers to the fact that she raises herself for her rapid flight. It does not mean that she would mount on her wings, for this the ostrich cannot do; but to the fact that this timid and cowardly bird would, when danger was near, rouse herself, and assume a lofty courage and bearing. The word here translated “lifteth up” (תמריא tamâriy') means properly “to lash, to whip,” as a horse, to increase its speed, and is here supposed by Gesenius to be used as denoting that the ostrich by flapping her wings lashes herself up as it were to her course. All the ancient interpretations, however, as well as the common English version, render it as if it were but another form of the word רום rûm, to raise oneself up, or to rise up, as if the ostrich aroused herself up for her flight. Herder renders it, “At once she is up, and urges herself forward.” Taylor (in Calmet) renders it: “Yet at the time she haughtily assumes courage; She scorneth the horse and his rider.” The leading idea is, that she rouses herself to escape her pursuer; she lifts up her head and body, and spreads her wings, and then bids defiance to anything to overtake her. She scorneth the horse and his rider - In the pursuit. […]
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כָּ֭עֵת | kaet | about the time | H6256 → | 296 times |
| בַּמָּר֣וֹם | bamarom | on the height | H4791 → | 54 times |
| תַּמְרִ֑יא | tamri' | it flaps | H4754 → | |
| תִּֽשְׂחַ֥ק | tischak | it laughs | H7832 → | 36 times |
| לַ֝סּ֗וּס | lasus | to the horse | H5483 → | |
| וּלְרֹֽכְבֽוֹ׃ | ulerokhevo | and to rider its | H7392 → |
כָּ֭עֵתabout the time
kaetH6256 →296 times
בַּמָּר֣וֹםon the height
bamaromH4791 →54 times
תַּמְרִ֑יאit flaps
tamri'H4754 →
תִּֽשְׂחַ֥קit laughs
tischakH7832 →36 times
לַ֝סּ֗וּסto the horse
lasusH5483 →
וּלְרֹֽכְבֽוֹ׃and to rider its
ulerokhevoH7392 →
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
Job 5:22You will laugh at destruction and famine, and need not fear the beasts of the earth.
it leads to
- Ezekiel 34:25
I will make with them a covenant of peace and rid the land of wild animals, so that they may dwell securely in the wilderness and sleep in the forest.
- Isaiah 35:9
No lion will be there, and no vicious beast will go up on it. Such will not be found there, but the redeemed will walk upon it.
- Psalms 91:13
You will tread on the lion and cobra; you will trample the young lion and serpent.
- Ezekiel 34:25
Through
2 Kings 19:21This is the word that the LORD has spoken against him: ‘The Virgin Daughter of Zion despises you and mocks you; the Daughter of Jerusalem shakes her head behind you.
it leads to
- Lamentations 2:13
What can I say for you? To what can I compare you, O Daughter of Jerusalem? To what can I liken you, that I may console you, O Virgin Daughter of Zion? For your…
- Job 16:4
I could also speak like you if you were in my place; I could heap up words against you and shake my head at you.
- Matthew 27:39
And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads
- Jeremiah 14:17
You are to speak this word to them: ‘My eyes overflow with tears; day and night they do not cease, for the virgin daughter of my people has been shattered by a crushing blow,…
- Lamentations 2:15
All who pass by clap their hands at you in scorn. They hiss and shake their heads at the Daughter of Jerusalem: “Is this the city that was called the perfection of beauty, the…
- Lamentations 2:13
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; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.