Lectionary Calendar
Tuesday, July 15th, 2025
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
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Contemporary English Version

Job 39:21

Before horses are ridden into battle, they paw at the ground, proud of their strength.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - God;   Horse;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Beasts;   Horse, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Horses;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Animals;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Horse;   Valley;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Horse;   Transportation and Travel;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Horse;   Knowledge;   Nature;   World;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Horse;   People's Dictionary of the Bible - Greyhound;   Horse;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Armor;   Horse;   Paw;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Horse;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength;he charges into battle.
Hebrew Names Version
He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength: He goes out to meet the armed men.
King James Version
He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men.
English Standard Version
He paws in the valley and exults in his strength; he goes out to meet the weapons.
New Century Version
It paws wildly, enjoying its strength, and charges into battle.
New English Translation
It paws the ground in the valley, exulting mightily, it goes out to meet the weapons.
Amplified Bible
"He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength; He goes out to meet the weapons [of armed men].
New American Standard Bible
"He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength; He goes out to meet the battle.
World English Bible
He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength: He goes out to meet the armed men.
Geneva Bible (1587)
He diggeth in the valley, and reioyceth in his strength: he goeth foorth to meete the harnest man.
Legacy Standard Bible
He paws in the valley and rejoices in his power;He goes out to meet the weapons.
Berean Standard Bible
He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength; he charges into battle.
Complete Jewish Bible
It paws with force and exults with vigor, then charges into the battle;
Darby Translation
He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in [his] strength; he goeth forth to meet the armed host.
Easy-to-Read Version
A horse is happy to be so strong. It scratches the ground with its foot and runs into battle.
George Lamsa Translation
He paws in the plain, and rejoices in the valley; he goes forth armed to the battle.
Good News Translation
They eagerly paw the ground in the valley; they rush into battle with all their strength.
Lexham English Bible
They paw in the valley, and it exults with strength; it goes out to meet the battle.
Literal Translation
He paws in the valley and he rejoices in his strength; he goes out to meet the weapons;
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
he breaketh ye grounde with the hoffes of his fete chearfully in his strength, and runneth to mete the harnest men.
American Standard Version
He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength: He goeth out to meet the armed men.
Bible in Basic English
He is stamping with joy in the valley; he makes sport of fear.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength; he goeth out to meet the clash of arms.
King James Version (1611)
He paweth in the valley, and reioyceth in his strength: hee goeth on to meet the armed men.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
He breaketh the grounde with the hooffes of his feete, he reioyceth cherefully in his strength, and runneth to meete the harnest men.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
He paws exulting in the plain, and goes forth in strength into the plain.
English Revised Version
He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength: he goeth out to meet the armed men.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
He diggith erthe with the foot, he `fulli ioieth booldli; he goith ayens armed men.
Update Bible Version
He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength: He goes out to meet the armed men.
Webster's Bible Translation
He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in [his] strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men.
New King James Version
He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength; He gallops into the clash of arms.
New Living Translation
It paws the earth and rejoices in its strength when it charges out to battle.
New Life Bible
He hits his foot against the ground in the valley, and has joy in his strength. He goes out to meet the battle.
New Revised Standard
It paws violently, exults mightily; it goes out to meet the weapons.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
He diggeth into the plain, and rejoiceth in vigour, he goeth forth to meet armour;
Douay-Rheims Bible
He breaketh up the earth with his hoof, he pranceth boldly, he goeth forward to meet armed men.
Revised Standard Version
He paws in the valley, and exults in his strength; he goes out to meet the weapons.
Young's Literal Translation
They dig in a valley, and he rejoiceth in power, He goeth forth to meet the armour.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength; He goes out to meet the weapons.

Contextual Overview

19 Did you give horses their strength and the flowing hair along their necks? 20 Did you make them able to jump like grasshoppers or to frighten people with their snorting? 21 Before horses are ridden into battle, they paw at the ground, proud of their strength. 22 Laughing at fear, they rush toward the fighting, 23 while the weapons of their riders rattle and flash in the sun. 24 Unable to stand still, they gallop eagerly into battle when trumpets blast. 25 Stirred by the distant smells and sounds of war, they snort in reply to the trumpet.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

He paweth: or, His feet dig, Judges 5:22

and: 1 Samuel 17:4-10, 1 Samuel 17:42, Psalms 19:5, Jeremiah 9:23

he goeth: Proverbs 21:31, Jeremiah 8:6

armed men: Heb. armour

Reciprocal: Job 41:26 - The sword

Cross-References

Genesis 21:22
About this time Abimelech and his army commander Phicol said to Abraham, "God blesses everything you do!
Genesis 39:2
So Joseph lived in the home of Potiphar, his Egyptian owner. Soon Potiphar realized that the Lord was helping Joseph to be successful in whatever he did.
Genesis 39:9
No one in my master's house is more important than I am. The only thing he hasn't given me is you, and that's because you are his wife. I won't sin against God by doing such a terrible thing as this."
Genesis 39:10
She kept begging Joseph day after day, but he refused to do what she wanted or even to go near her.
Genesis 39:13
When this happened,
Genesis 39:14
she called in her servants and said, "Look! This Hebrew has come just to make fools of us. He tried to rape me, but I screamed for help.
Genesis 39:16
Potiphar's wife kept Joseph's coat until her husband came home.
Genesis 39:23
The jailer did not worry about anything, because the Lord was with Joseph and made him successful in all that he did.
Exodus 3:21
After I punish the Egyptians, they will be so afraid of you that they will give you anything you want. You are my people, and I will let you take many things with you when you leave the land of Egypt.
Exodus 11:3
So the Lord made the Egyptians greatly respect the Israelites, and everyone, including the king and his officials, considered Moses an important leader.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

He paweth in the valley,.... Where armies are usually pitched and set in battle army, and especially the cavalry, for which the valley is most convenient; and here the horse is impatient of engaging, cannot stand still, but rises up with his fore feet and paws and prances, and, as the word signifies, digs the earth and makes it hollow, by a continual striking upon it; so generally horses are commonly described in this manner s;

and rejoiceth in [his] strength; of which he is sensible, and glories in it; marches to the battle with pride and stateliness, defying, as it were, the enemy, and as if sure of victory, of which he has knowledge when obtained; for Lactantius says t of horses, when conquerors they exult, when conquered they grieve; it has its name in the Hebrew language from rejoicing u;

he goeth on to meet the armed men; without any fear or dread of them, as follows.

s "Cavatque tellurem". Virgil. Georgic. l. 3. v. 87. t Institut. l. 3. c. 8. u שוש "gavisus est". Vid. Buxtorf. in voce סוס.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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.

Hōs d' arēios hippos, eeldomenos polemoio,

Skarthmō epichremethōn krouei pedon.

“As a war-horse, impatient for the battle,

Neighing beats the ground with bis hoofs”

He goeth on to meet the armed men - Margin, “armor.” The margin is in accordance with the Hebrew, but still the idea is substantially the same. The horse rushes on furiously against the weapons of war.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 39:21. He paweth in the valley — רעם yachperu, "they dig in the valley," i.e., in his violent galloping, in every pitch of his body, he scoops up sods out of the earth. Virgil has seized this idea also, in his cavat tellurem; "he scoops out the ground." See before.


 
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