Job 39:27
in Job 39Does the eagle soar at your command and make his nest on high?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Is it at thy command that the eagle mounteth up, And maketh her nest on high?
KJV
Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high?
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This verse in Job 39
Commentary
11 notes on this verseWill the eagle mount up at thy command, and make for thee her nest in high places. 94. In Holy Scripture, by the word 'eagle' are sometimes designated malignant spirits, the spoilers of souls, sometimes the powers of the present world, but sometimes either the very subtle understandings of the Saints, or the Incarnate Lord, swiftly flying over things below, and presently seeking again those on high.
This site's exposition
Does the hawk take flight by your understanding
on Job 39:26-30
Jamieson, Fausset and Brown find the proverb of the last line, “where the slain are, there he is”, on the Lord's lips at Matthew 24:28. The chapter asks whether a man who cannot govern a doe's labor or a hawk's flight is fit to judge God's government of the world.
This site's exposition
Does the eagle soar at your command
At your command is by your mouth in Hebrew, Barnes notes. Ephrem the Syrian read the eagle as Christ, the high rock as the cross, and the young ones that feast on blood as the saints.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
The eagle is Christ. The high rock is the cross. The young ones licking the blood are the souls of the saints, who feed on Christ's blood flowing from his side, that blood that also the nations of the believers enjoy like young ones of …
The Medieval Church2 voices
He last speaks about the eagle, who flies higher than the rest of the birds, and so he says, "Will the eagle fly high at your command," like he does at mine? For the eagle does this by natural instinct. The whole natural course of …
A commentator
BonaventureCollations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 3 · Written in the 13th century.
proposed
Hence in Job: "Does the eagle fly up at your command to pass the night at his lofty nest?" And later: "Where the slain are, there is he." First, he speaks wonders of the eagle, and then humble things; and so it is with rapture. …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Is it by any strength she has from thee? or dost thou direct her flight? No; it is by the natural power and instinct God has given her that she will soar out of thy sight, much more out of thy call." (2.) For the strength of her nest. Her house is her castle and strong-hold; she makes it on high and on the rock, the crag of the rock (
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens+odd-straight-quotes
Doth the eagle mount up at thy command,.... No; but by an instinct which God has placed in it, and a capacity he has given it above all other birds.
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
God here shows Job what little acquaintance he had with the untamed creatures that run wild in the deserts and live at large, but are the care of the divine Providence. The wild goats and the hinds. That which is taken notice of concerning them is the bringing forth and bringing up of their young ones.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Doth the eagle mount up at thy command? - Margin, as in Hebrew, “by thy mouth.” The meaning is, that Job had not power to direct or order the eagle in his lofty flight. The eagle has always been celebrated for the height to which it ascends. When Ramond had reached the summit of Mount Perdu, the highest of the Pyrenees, he perceived no living creature but an eagle which passed above him, flying with inconceivable rapidity in direct opposition to a furious wind. “Edin.
Doth the eagle mount up - The eagle is said to be of so acute a sight, that when she is so high in the air that men cannot see her, she can discern a small fish in the water! See on Job 39:29 (note).
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אִם־ | ʾim- | or? | H518 → | 1069 times |
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| פִּ֭יךָ | pikha | mouth your | H6310 → | 498 times |
| יַגְבִּ֣יהַּ | yagbiah | does it make high [its flight] | H1361 → | 34 times |
| נָ֑שֶׁר | nasher | an eagle | H5404 → | |
| וְ֝כִ֗י | vekhi | and that | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| יָרִ֥ים | yarim | it sets on high | H7311 → | 190 times |
| קִנּֽוֹ׃ | kino | nest its | H7064 → |
אִם־or?
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
פִּ֭יךָmouth your
pikhaH6310 →498 times
יַגְבִּ֣יהַּdoes it make high [its flight]
yagbiahH1361 →34 times
נָ֑שֶׁרan eagle
nasherH5404 →
וְ֝כִ֗יand that
vekhiH3588 →4482 times
יָרִ֥יםit sets on high
yarimH7311 →190 times
קִנּֽוֹ׃nest its
kinoH7064 →
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
Isaiah 40:31But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.
it leads to
- Lamentations 3:25–26
The LORD is good to those who wait for Him, to the soul who seeks Him.
- 2 Corinthians 4:16
Therefore we do not lose heart. Though our outer self is wasting away, yet our inner self is being renewed day by day.
- Psalms 27:13–14
Still I am certain to see the goodness of the LORD in the land of the living.
- Psalms 103:5
who satisfies you with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle’s.
- 2 Corinthians 12:9–10
But He said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for My power is perfected in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly in my weaknesses, so that the power of…
- Lamentations 3:25–26
Through
Exodus 19:4‘You have seen for yourselves what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on eagles’ wings and brought you to Myself.
it leads to
- Isaiah 63:9
In all their distress, He too was afflicted, and the Angel of His Presence saved them. In His love and compassion He redeemed them; He lifted them up and carried them all the days…
- Deuteronomy 32:11–12
As an eagle stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, He spread His wings to catch them and carried them on His pinions.
- Isaiah 40:31
But those who wait upon the LORD will renew their strength; they will mount up with wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not faint.
- Isaiah 63:9
About Job
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Bonaventure, Collations on the Hexaemeron, Collation 3; Ephrem the Syrian, COMMENTARY ON JOB 39:27; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XXXI; Jamieson, Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.