the Week of Proper 6 / Ordinary 11
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Easy-to-Read Version
Job 39:14
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- InternationalParallel Translations
She abandons her eggs on the groundand lets them be warmed in the sand.
For she leaves her eggs on the eretz, Warms them in the dust,
Which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in dust,
For she leaves her eggs to the earth and lets them be warmed on the ground,
The ostrich lays its eggs on the ground and lets them warm in the sand.
For she leaves her eggs on the ground, and lets them be warmed on the soil.
For she leaves her eggs on the ground And warms them in the dust,
For she abandons her eggs to the earth And warms them in the dust,
For she leaves her eggs on the earth, Warms them in the dust,
Which leaueth his egges in the earth, and maketh them hote in the dust,
For she leaves her eggs to the earthAnd warms them in the dust,
For she leaves her eggs on the ground and lets them warm in the sand.
She abandons her eggs and lets the dusty ground keep them warm.
It leaves its eggs on the ground and lets them be warmed by the sand,
For she leaveth her eggs to the earth, and warmeth them in the dust,
But she leaves her eggs in the earth to be warmed on the ground.
The ostrich leaves her eggs on the ground for the heat in the soil to warm them.
Indeed, it leaves its eggs to the earth, and it lets them be warmed on the ground,
For she leaves her eggs to the earth, and lets them warm on the dust;
whe he hath layed his egges vpon the grounde, he bredeth them in the dust,
For she leaveth her eggs on the earth, And warmeth them in the dust,
That she puts her eggs on the earth, warming them in the dust,
For she leaveth her eggs on the earth, and warmeth them in dust,
Which leaueth her egges in the earth, and warmeth them in dust,
For she leaueth her egges in the earth, and heateth them in the dust.
for the ostrich will leave her eggs in the ground, and warm them on the dust,
For she leaveth her eggs on the earth, and warmeth them in the dust,
which ostrige forsakith hise eirun in the erthe, in hap thou schalt make tho hoot in the dust.
For she leaves her eggs on the earth, And warms them in the dust,
Which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in the dust,
For she leaves her eggs on the ground, And warms them in the dust;
She lays her eggs on top of the earth, letting them be warmed in the dust.
For she leaves her eggs to the earth and lets them get warm in the dust.
For it leaves its eggs to the earth, and lets them be warmed on the ground,
For she leaveth - to the earth - her eggs, and, on the dust, she letteth them be warmed;
When she leaveth her eggs on the earth, thou perhaps wilt warm them in the dust.
For she leaves her eggs to the earth, and lets them be warmed on the ground,
For she leaveth on the earth her eggs, And on the dust she doth warm them,
For she abandons her eggs to the earth And warms them in the dust,
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
Reciprocal: Proverbs 27:8 - a bird
Cross-References
Shem was Japheth's older brother. One of Shem's descendants was Eber, the father of all the Hebrew people.
One of the men who had escaped went to Abram the Hebrew and told him what happened. Abram was camped near the trees of Mamre the Amorite. Mamre, Eshcol, and Aner had made an agreement to help each other, and they had also signed an agreement to help Abram.
After some time, the wife of Joseph's master began to pay special attention to him. One day she said to him, "Sleep with me."
She called to the men outside and said, "Look! This Hebrew slave was brought here to make fun of us. He came in and tried to attack me, but I screamed.
She told her husband the same story. She said, "This Hebrew slave you brought here tried to attack me!
But when he came near me, I screamed. He ran away, but he left his coat."
Joseph's master listened to what his wife said, and he became very angry.
I was kidnapped and taken from the land of my people, the Hebrews. I have done nothing wrong! I should not be in prison."
There are witnesses trying to harm me. They ask me questions that I know nothing about.
My enemies shout at me and threaten me. In their anger they attack me. They bring troubles crashing down on me.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
Which leaveth her eggs in the earth,.... Lays them and leaves them there. Aelianus, agreeably to this, says w, that it builds a low nest in the ground, making a hollow in the sand with its feet; though he seems to be mistaken as to the number of its eggs, which he makes to be more than eighty; more truly Leo Africanus x, who reckons them ten or twelve; which, he says, it lays in the sand, and each of them are of the size of a cannon ball, and weigh fifteen pounds, more or less. Hence, with the Arabs, it is called
"the mother of eggs,''
because of the large eggs it lays; and with them it is a proverb,
"meaner, or of a lesser account, than the eggs of an ostrich,''
because its eggs are neglected by it y;
and warmeth them in the dust; not that she leaves them to be warmed by the hot sand, or by the heat of the sun upon them, by which they are hatched, as has been commonly said, for thereby they would rather be corrupted and become rotten; but she herself warms them and hatches them, by sitting upon them in the dust and sand: and for this the above historian is express, who says z, the female lighting on these eggs, whether her own or another's, sits on them and heats them. Concerning the ostrich hatching its eggs, Vansleb a, from an Arabic manuscript, relates what is incredible, that they are hatched by the male and female with their eye only; that one or other of them keep continually looking at them until they are all hatched; and this I observe is asserted also by another writer b.
w De Animal. l. 14. c. 17. x Ut supra. (Descriptio Africaae, l. 9. p. 766.) y Hottinger. Smegm. Orient. l. 1. c. 7. p. 128. z Descript. Africae, ut supra. (l. 9. p. 766.) Vid. Aelian. l. 4. c. 37. a Relation of a Voyage to Egypt, p. 64. b Coelius, l. 10. c. 5. apud Sanctium in loc.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
Which leaveth her eggs in the earth - That is, she does not build a nest, as most birds do, but deposits her eggs in the sand. The ostrich, Dr. Shaw remarks, lays usually from thirty to fifty eggs. The eggs are very large, some of them being above five inches in diameter, and weighing fifteen pounds - Goldsmith. “We are not to consider,” says Dr. Shaw, “this large collection of eggs as if they were all intended for a brood. They are the greatest part of them reserved for food, which the dam breaks, and disposeth of according to the number and cravings of her young ones.” The idea which seems to be conveyed in our common version is, that the ostrich deposits her eggs in the sand, and then leaves them, without further care, to be hatched by the heat of the sun. This idea is not, however, necessarily implied in the original, and is contrary to fact. The truth is, that the eggs are deposited with great care, and with so much attention to the manner in which they are placed, that a line drawn from those in the extremities would just touch the tops of the intermediate ones (see Damir, as quoted by Bochart, “Hieroz.” P. ii. Lib. ii. c. xvii. p. 253), and that they are hatched, as the eggs of other birds are, in a great measure by the heat imparted by the incubation of the parent bird.
It is true that in the hot climates where these birds live, there is less necessity for constant incubation than in colder latitudes, and that the parent bird is more frequently absent; but she is accustomed regularly to return at night, and carefully broods over her eggs. See Le Valliant, “Travels in the Interior of Africa,” ii. 209, 305. It is true also that the parent bird wanders sometimes far from the place where the eggs are deposited, and forgets the place, and in this case if another nest of eggs is seen, she is not concerned whether they are her own or not, for she is not endowed with the power of distinguishing between her own eggs and those of another. This fact seems to have given rise to all the fables stated by the Arabic writers about the stupidity of the ostrich; about her leaving her eggs; and about her disposition to sit on the eggs of others. Bochart has collected many of these opinions from the Arabic writers, among which are the following: Alkazuinius says, “They say that no bird is more foolish than the ostrich, for while it forsakes its own eggs, it sits on the eggs of others; from the proverb, “Every animal loves its own young except the ostrich.”
Ottomanus says, “Every animal loves its own progeny except the ostrich. But that pertains only to the male. For although the common proverb imputes folly to the female, yet with her folly she loves her young, and feeds them, and teaches them to fly, the same as other animals.” Damir, an Arabic writer, says, “When the ostrich goes forth from her nest, that she may seek food, if she finds the egg of another ostrich, she sits on that, and forgets her own. And when driven away by hunters, she never returns; whence, it is that she is described as foolish, and that the proverb in regard to her has originated.
And warmeth them in dust - The idea which was evidently in the mind of the translators in this passage was, that the ostrich left her eggs in the dust to be hatched by the heat of the sun. This is not correct, and is not necessarily implied in the Hebrew, though undoubtedly the heat of the sand is made to contribute to the process of hatching the egg, and allows the parent bird to be absent longer from her nest than birds in colder climates. This seems to be all that is implied in the passage.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Job 39:14. Which leaveth her eggs in the earth — This want of parental affection in the ostrich is almost universally acknowledged. Mr. Jackson, in his Account of Morocco, observes: "The ostrich, having laid her eggs, goes away, forgetting or forsaking them: and if some other ostrich discover them, she hatches them as if they were her own, forgetting probably whether they are or are not; so deficient is the recollection of this bird." This illustrates Job 39:15: "And forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them." The poet seems well acquainted with every part of the subject on which he writes; and facts incontestable confirm all he says. For farther illustration, see the account from Dr. Shaw at the end of the chapter. Job 39:30.
