Job 39:21

The sign of this appears immediately in him, which the text describes next, "he paws the ground with his hoof," to prepare himself to fight. He rejoices interiorly to perceive the coming battle, and so he says, "he exults," because he senses the opportunity to …

He diggeth up the earth with his hoof. He exulteth boldly, he goeth on to meet the armed men. [MORAL INTERPRETATION] 77. For to dig the earth with the hoof, is to tame the flesh by strict abstinence. But the more the flesh is kept down, the more fearlessly does the mind rejoice, from the hope of heaven. And hence, when the earth has been dug out, it is fitly subjoined; He exulteth boldly. For since he firmly represses that which contends against him, he exults boldly at those things, which he longs for in everlasting peace; and his mind is the better disposed to seek for heavenly objects, the more strictly the body is restrained from unlawful pursuits. Whence it is rightly said by Solomon, Diligently cultivate thy field, that thou mayest afterwards build thine house. [Prov. 24, 27] For he rightly builds the house of his mind, who first cleanses the field of his body from the thorns of vices; that the whole fabric of virtues may not be destroyed within, as the famine of good works increases, if the thorns of desires make head in the field of the flesh. But any one, who is engaged in the very height of the battle, discerns more skilfully the fraud of the enemies, the more strictly also he keeps under his own body, as though it were a confederate of the foe. Whence also after the bruising of the body, after the joy of the heart, it is rightly subjoined; He goeth on to meet the armed men. 78. Armed enemies are unclean spirits, girded with countless frauds against us. For, when they cannot persuade us to what is wrong, they present it to our sight under the guise of virtues, and cover themselves, as it were, under certain arms, that they may not appear before us in their own naked wickedness. And we proceed to meet these armed men, when we foresee their stratagems afar off. […]

): He paws in the valley, scarcely knowing what ground he stands upon. He is proud of his strength, and he has much more reason to be so as using his strength in the service of man, and under his direction, than the wild ass that uses it in contempt of man, and in a revolt from him

quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens

He paweth in the valley,....

He paweth in the valley - Margin, “or, His feet dig.” The marginal reading is more in accordance with the Hebrew. The reference is to the well known fact of the “pawing” of the horse with his feet, as if he would dig up the ground. The same idea occurs in Virgil, as quoted above: caavatque Tellurem, et solido graviter solar ungula cornu. Also in Apollonius, L. iii. “Argonauticon:” Ὡς δ ̓ ἀρήΐος ἵππος, ἐελδόμενος πολεμοίο, Σκαρθμῷ ἐπιχρεμέθων κρούει πέδον.