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Sunday, August 3rd, 2025
the Week of Proper 13 / Ordinary 18
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Read the Bible

Easy-to-Read Version

Job 39:11

A wild bull is very strong, but can you trust him to do your work?

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - God;   Unicorn (Wild Ox, Rsv);   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Unicorn;  

Dictionaries:

- Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Animals;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Unicorn;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Knowledge;   Nature;   Unicorn;   World;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Labor;   Wild-Ox;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Buffalo;   Unicorn;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Can you depend on it because its strength is great?Would you leave it to do your hard work?
Hebrew Names Version
Will you trust him, because his strength is great? Or will you leave to him your labor?
King James Version
Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave thy labour to him?
English Standard Version
Will you depend on him because his strength is great, and will you leave to him your labor?
New Century Version
Will you depend on the wild ox for its great strength and leave your heavy work for it to do?
New English Translation
Will you rely on it because its strength is great? Will you commit your labor to it?
Amplified Bible
"Will you trust him because his strength is great And leave your labor to him?
New American Standard Bible
"Will you trust him because his strength is great, And leave your labor to him?
World English Bible
Will you trust him, because his strength is great? Or will you leave to him your labor?
Geneva Bible (1587)
Wilt thou trust in him, because his stregth is great, and cast off thy labour vnto him?
Legacy Standard Bible
Will you trust him because his power is greatAnd leave your labor to him?
Berean Standard Bible
Can you rely on his great strength? Will you leave your hard work to him?
Contemporary English Version
Can you depend on him to use his great strength and do your heavy work?
Complete Jewish Bible
Would you trust its great strength enough to let it do your heavy work,
Darby Translation
Wilt thou put confidence in him, because his strength is great? and wilt thou leave thy labour to him?
George Lamsa Translation
Will you have confidence in him, because his strength is great? Or will you leave your labor to him?
Good News Translation
Can you rely on his great strength and expect him to do your heavy work?
Lexham English Bible
Can you trust it because its strength is great, or will you hand your labor over to it?
Literal Translation
Will you trust him because his strength is great; or will you leave your labor to him?
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Mayest thou trust hi (because he is stroge) or comitte thy labor vnto hi?
American Standard Version
Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great? Or wilt thou leave to him thy labor?
Bible in Basic English
Will you put your faith in him, because his strength is great? will you give the fruit of your work into his care?
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great? Or wilt thou leave thy labour to him?
King James Version (1611)
Wilt thou trust him because his strength is great? or wilt thou leaue thy labour to him?
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Mayst thou trust him because he is strong, or commit thy labour vnto him?
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And dost thou trust him, because his strength is great? and wilt thou commit thy works to him?
English Revised Version
Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave to him thy labour?
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Whether thou schalt haue trist in his grete strengthe, and schalt thou leeue to hym thi traueils?
Update Bible Version
Will you trust him, because his strength is great? Or will you leave to him your labor?
Webster's Bible Translation
Wilt thou trust him, because his strength [is] great? or wilt thou leave thy labor to him?
New King James Version
Will you trust him because his strength is great? Or will you leave your labor to him?
New Living Translation
Given its strength, can you trust it? Can you leave and trust the ox to do your work?
New Life Bible
Will you trust in him because he is very strong, and leave your work to him?
New Revised Standard
Will you depend on it because its strength is great, and will you hand over your labor to it?
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Wilt thou trust in him, because of the greatness of his strength? Wilt thou leave unto him thy toil?
Douay-Rheims Bible
Wilt thou have confidence in his great strength, and leave thy labours to him?
Revised Standard Version
Will you depend on him because his strength is great, and will you leave to him your labor?
Young's Literal Translation
Dost thou trust in him because great [is] his power? And dost thou leave unto him thy labour?
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Will you trust him because his strength is great And leave your labor to him?

Contextual Overview

1 "Do you know when the mountain goats are born? Do you watch when the mother deer gives birth? 2 Do you know how many months they must carry their babies? Do you know when it is the right time for them to be born? 3 These animals lie down, they feel their birth pains, and their babies are born. 4 Their babies grow strong out in the wild. Then they leave their mothers and never come back. 5 "Who let the wild donkeys go free? Who untied their ropes and let them loose? 6 I let the wild donkey have the desert for a home. I gave the salt lands to them for a place to live. 7 They are happy to be away from the noise of the city. They never have to listen to their drivers shouting at them. 8 They live in the mountains. That is their pasture. That is where they look for food to eat. 9 "Will a wild bull agree to serve you? Will he stay in your barn at night? 10 Will he let you put ropes on him to plow your fields?

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

trust: Psalms 20:7, Psalms 33:16, Psalms 33:17, Psalms 147:10, Isaiah 30:16, Isaiah 31:1-3

leave: Genesis 1:26, Genesis 1:28, Genesis 9:2, Genesis 42:26, Psalms 144:14, Proverbs 14:4, Isaiah 30:6, Isaiah 46:1

Reciprocal: Numbers 23:22 - the strength

Cross-References

Job 24:15
A man who commits adultery waits for the night to come. He thinks, ‘No one will see me,' but still, he covers his face.
Proverbs 9:17
"Stolen water is sweet. Stolen bread tastes good."
Jeremiah 23:24
Someone might try to hide from me in some hiding place. But it is easy for me to see that person, says the Lord , because I am everywhere in heaven and earth." This message is from the Lord :
Malachi 3:5
Then I will bring you to justice. I will be an expert witness and testify about the evil things people do. I will speak out against those who do evil magic or commit adultery. I will speak out against those who make false promises and cheat their workers and don't pay them the money they promised. I will testify against those who don't help strangers, or widows and orphans. And I will testify against those who don't respect me." This is what the Lord All-Powerful said.
Ephesians 5:3
But there must be no sexual sin among you. There must not be any kind of evil or selfishly wanting more and more, because such things are not right for God's holy people.
Ephesians 5:12
Actually, it is shameful to even talk about the things those people do in secret.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Wilt thou trust him, because his strength [is] great?.... No; tame oxen are employed because they are strong to labour,

Psalms 144:14; and they are to be trusted, in ploughing or treading out the corn, under direction, because they are manageable, and will attend to business with constancy; but the wild ox, though stronger, and so fitter for labour, is yet not to be trusted, because unruly and unmanageable: if that sort of wild oxen called "uri" could be thought to be meant, for which Bootius h contends, Caesar's account of them would agree with this character of the "reem", as to his great strength: he says of them i, they are in size a little smaller than elephants, of the kind, colour, and shape of a bull; they are of great strength and of great swiftness, and not to be tamed;

or wilt thou leave thy labour to him? to plough thy fields, to harrow thy lands, and to bring home the ripe corn? as in Job 39:12; thou wilt not.

h Animadvers. Sacr. l. 3. c. 1. s. 14. i Comment. de Bello Gall. l. 6. c. 27.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Wilt thou trust him? - As thou dost the ox. In the domestic animals great confidence is of necessity placed, and the reliance on the fidelity of the ox and the horse is not usually misplaced. The idea here is, that the unicorn could not be so tamed that important interests could be safely entrusted to him.

Because his strength is great? - Wilt thou consider his strength as a reason why important interests might be entrusted to him? The strength of the ox, the camel, the horse, and the elephant was a reason why their aid was sought by man to do what he could not himself do. The idea is, that man could not make use of the same reason for employing the rhinoceros.

Wilt thou leave thy labour to him? - Or, rather, the avails of thy labor - the harvest.


 
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