约伯记 38:39

Chinese Union (Simplified)

母 狮 子 在 洞 中 蹲 伏 ， 少 壮 狮 子 在 隐 密 处 埋 伏 ； 你 能 为 他 们 抓 取 食 物 ， 使 他 们 饱 足 麽 ？

Parallel Translations

Chinese NCV (Simplified)
獅子在洞中蹲伏，在藏身之處躺臥埋伏的時候，

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Wilt: Job 4:10, Job 4:11, Psalms 34:10, Psalms 104:21, Psalms 145:15, Psalms 145:16

appetite: Heb. life

Reciprocal: Genesis 1:24 - Let Genesis 1:30 - General Numbers 24:9 - couched Psalms 8:8 - The fowl Proverbs 6:7 - General

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion?.... From meteors the Lord passes to animals, beasts, and birds, wherefore some here begin the thirty ninth chapter, which only treats of such; and he begins with the lion, the strongest among beasts, and most fierce; cruel, and voracious; and asks, who hunts his prey for him? Not man, who cannot; and if he could, durst not: but the Lord does; and, according to some writers x, he has provided a small creature, between a fox and a wolf, called a jackal; which goes before the lion, and hunts the prey for him. And could this be understood particularly of the old lion, as Cocceius and others, naturalists y observe, that young lions hunt for the old ones, when they are not able to go in search of prey; and when they have got it, either bring it to them, or call them to partake of it with them;

or fill the appetite of the young lions, whose appetite is sharp and keen, and requires a great deal to fill it, and especially to satisfy a great many of them; herds of them, as Mr. Broughton renders the word, and which signifies a company; see Psalms 68:30. Men cannot feed them, but God can and does; there being some ends in Providence to be answered thereby, see Psalms 104:21; see also Psalms 34:8.

x Thevenot's Travels, part 2. c. 13. y Aelian. de Animal. l. 9. c. 1.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? - The appeal here is to the instincts with which God has endowed animals, and to the fact that he had so made them that they would secure their own food. He asks Job whether he would undertake to do what the lion did by instinct in finding his food, and by his power and skill in seizing his prey. There was a wise adaptation of the lion for this purpose which man could neither originate nor explain.

Or fill the appetite of the young lions - Margin, as in Hebrew “life.” The word life is used here for hunger, as the appetite is necessarily connected with the preservation of life. The meaning here is, “Wouldst thou undertake to supply his needs? It is done by laws, and in a manner which thou canst not explain. There are in the arrangement by which it is accomplished marks of wisdom which far surpass the skill of man to originate, and the instinct and power by which it is done are proof of the supremacy of the Most High.” No one can study the subject of the instincts of animals, or become in the least acquainted with Natural History, without finding every where traces of the wisdom and goodness of God.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 38:39. Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? — Rather the lioness, or strong lion. Hast thou his instinct? Dost thou know the habits and haunts of such animals as he seeks for his food? Thou hast neither his strength, his instinct nor his cunning.

In the best Hebrew Bibles, the thirty-ninth chapter begins with this verse, and begins properly, as a new subject now commences, relating to the natural history of the earth, or the animal kingdom; as the preceding chapter does to astronomy and meteorology.