Job 39:28
in Job 39He dwells on a cliff and lodges there; his stronghold is on a rocky crag.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
On the cliff she dwelleth, and maketh her home, Upon the point of the cliff, and the stronghold.
KJV
She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place.
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This verse in Job 39
Commentary
9 notes on this verseShe abideth in the rocks. And she dwelleth in the abrupt flints, and in the inaccessible rocks. 97. In Holy Scripture, when a 'rock' is mentioned in the singular number, who else is understood but Christ? As Paul witnesses, who says, But the rock was Christ. [1 Cor. 10, 4] But when 'rocks' are spoken of, in the plural number, His members are described, namely, holy men, who are confirmed by His strength.
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
his stronghold is on a rocky crag
The rocky crag is the tooth of the rock in Hebrew, Clarke notes, a point jutting from the cliff. Barnes adds that a pair keeps one cliff for life. Henry recalls Jeremiah 49, where the Lord brings down those who make their nest on high.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
So he says, "he dwells in the rocks," as though enjoying the purity of the air, because in rocky places there is not a lot of evaporation, "and he dwells in steep crags," those to which access is not open to predators, "and in cliffs …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place. Where she and her young are safe: so Pliny (r) says, eagles make their nests in rocks, even in the precipices of them, as the philosopher quoted in the preceding verse; and here on the tooth, edge, or precipice of the rock, which is inaccessible, and so like a strong fortified place. (r) Nat. Hist. l. 10. 3.
), which sets her and her young out of the reach of danger. Secure sinners think themselves as safe in their sins as the eagle in her nest on high, in the clefts of the rock; but I will bring thee down thence, saith the Lord, Jer. xlix.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
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 Century1 voice
Upon the crag of the rock - שן סלע shen sela, the tooth of the rock, i.e., some projecting part, whither adventurous man himself dares not follow her. And the strong place - ומצודה umetsudah. Mr. Good translates this word ravine, and joins it to Job 39:29, thus: “And thence espieth the ravine: her eyes trace the prey afar off.”
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
She dwelleth and abideth on the rock - “He rarely quits the mountains to descend into the plains. Each pair live in an insulated state, establishing their quarters on some high and precipitous cliff, at a respectful distance from others of the same species.” “Edin. Ency.” They seem to occupy the same cliff, or place of abode, during their lives; and hence, it is that they are represented as having a permanent abode on the lofty rock. In Damir it is said that the blind poet Besar, son of Jazidi, being asked, if God would give him the choice to be an animal, what he would be, said that he would wish to be nothing else than an “alokab,” a species of the eagle, for they dwelt in places to which no wild animal could have access. Scheutzer, “Phys. Sac. in loc.” The word rendered “abideth” means commonly “to pass the night,” and here refers to the fact that the high rock was its constant abode or dwelling. By night as well as by day, the eagle had his home there. Upon the crag of the rock - Hebrew, “Upon the tooth of the rock” - from the resemblance of the crag of a rock to a tooth.
The words behind it
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| סֶ֣לַע | sela' | a rock | H5553 → | 58 times |
| יִ֭שְׁכֹּן | yishkon | it dwells | H7931 → | 129 times |
| וְיִתְלֹנָ֑ן | veyitlonan | and it may pass [the] night | H3885 → | 84 times |
| עַֽל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| שֶׁן־ | shen- | [the] tooth of | H8127 → | 55 times |
| סֶ֝֗לַע | sela' | a rock | H5553 → | 58 times |
| וּמְצוּדָֽה׃ | umetzudah | and a stronghold | H4686 → |
סֶ֣לַעa rock
sela'H5553 →58 times
יִ֭שְׁכֹּןit dwells
yishkonH7931 →129 times
וְיִתְלֹנָ֑ןand it may pass [the] night
veyitlonanH3885 →84 times
עַֽל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
שֶׁן־[the] tooth of
shen-H8127 →55 times
סֶ֝֗לַעa rock
sela'H5553 →58 times
וּמְצוּדָֽה׃and a stronghold
umetzudahH4686 →
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
1 stopEach 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
1 Samuel 14:4Now there were cliffs on both sides of the pass that Jonathan intended to cross to reach the Philistine outpost. One was named Bozez and the other Seneh.
it leads to
- 1 Samuel 13:23
And a garrison of the Philistines had gone out to the pass at Michmash.
- 1 Samuel 13:23
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); 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.