Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

He swalloweth the ground - He seems as if he would absorb the earth. That is, he strikes his feet into it with such fierceness, and raises up the dust in his prancing, as if he would devour it. This figure is unusual with us, but it is common in the Arabic. See Schultens, “in loc.,” and Bochart, “Hieroz,” P. i. L. ii. c. viii. pp. 143-145. So Statius:

Stare loco nescit, pereunt vestigia mille

Ante fugam, absentemque ferit gravis ungula campum.

Th‘ impatient courser pants in every‘ vein,

And pawing seems to beat the distant plain;

Hills, vales, and floods, appear already cross‘d,

And ere he starts a thousand steps are lost.

Pope

Neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet - This translation by no means conveys the meaning of the original. The true sense is probably expressed by Umbreit. “He standeth not still when the trumpet soundeth; “that is, he becomes impatient; he no longer confides in the voice of the rider and remains submissive, but he becomes excited by the martial clangor, and rushes into the midst of the battle. The Hebrew word which is employed (יאמין ya'âmiyn ) means properly “to prop, stay, support”; then “to believe, to be firm, stable”; and is that which is commonly used to denote an act of “faith,” or as meaning “believing.” But the original sense of the word is here to be retained, and then it refers to the fact that the impatient horse no longer stands still when the trumpet begins to sound for battle.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage,.... Being so eager for the battle, and so full of fierceness and rage, he bounds the plain with such swiftness that he seems rather to swallow up the ground than to run upon it;

neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet; for joy at hearing it; or he will not trust to his ears, but will see with his eyes whether the battle is ready, and therefore pushes forward. Mr. Broughton and others read it, "he will not stand still at the noise of the trumpet"; and the word signifies firm and stable, as well as to believe; when he hears the trumpet sound, the alarm of war, as a preparation for the battle, he knows not how to^F1"Stare loco nescit". Virgil. Georgic. l. 3. v. 84. "Ut fremit acer equus", &c. Ovid. Metamorph. l. 3. Fab. 10. v. 704. stand; there is scarce any holding him in, but he rushes into the battle at once, Jeremiah 8:6.

Geneva Study Bible

(o) He so rides the ground that it seems nothing under him.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

swalloweth — Fretting with impatience, he draws the ground towards him with his hoof, as if he would swallow it. The parallelism shows this to be the sense; not as Maurer, “scours over it.”

neither believeth — for joy. Rather, “he will not stand still, when the note of the trumpet (soundeth).”

Wesley's Explanatory Notes

He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage: neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet.

Swalloweth — He is so full of rage and fury, that he not only champs his bridle, but is ready to tear and devour the very ground on which he goes.

Believeth — He is so pleased with the approach of the battle, and the sound of the trumpet calling to it, that he can scarce believe his ears for gladness.

John Trapp Complete Commentary

Job 39:24 He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage: neither believeth he that [it is] the sound of the trumpet.

Ver. 24. He swalloweth the ground with fierceness] He runs over it as fast as if he did swallow it up at a draught, Terrain prae cursus celeritate, ebibare, et epotare videtur (Merc.). A hyperbolic metaphor.

With fierceness and rage] Or, With commotion or unquietness, In fremitu et commotione. There is an elegance in the original that cannot be interpreted in English.

Neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet] He is so overjoyed, when that sign is given, to begin the battle. Others, he cannot stand still when he hath once heard the sound of the trumpet.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

The sense is either,

1. He is so earnest and eager upon the battle, that he rusheth into it with all speed; and runs over the ground so swiftly, that he might seem to have swallowed it tap. Or,

2. He is so full of war-like rage and fury, that he not only champs his bridle, but is ready to tear and devour the very ground on which he goes. And the phrase here used is not unusual, both in Arabic and in other authors; of which see my Latin Synopsis on this place.

He is so pleased with the approach of the battle, and the sound of the trumpet calling to it, that he could scarce believe his cars for gladness: compare Genesis 45:26 Luke 24:41. Or thus, he cannot stand still, or firm, (as this verb and Hie derivative from it is used, not only in the Chaldee and Syriac dialect, but also in the Hebrew, as Deuteronomy 28:59 1 Samuel 2:35) when the trumpet soundeth; his rider can hardly keep him still, but he strives and longs to run to the fight.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

24.He swalloweth the ground — , swalloweth, from which , “bulrush” is derived, because of its sucking, or “swallowing,” the water. See note, Job 8:11. The Arab, in common with the Eastern and classic poets, to the present day, applies the metaphor of the text to the horse. In like manner Shakspeare: —

And starting so,

He seemed in running to devour the way.

Henry IV., Sec. Part.

Believeth he — Furst, Hitzig, and others would read, , standeth he still. The reading of the text, believeth, is equally well supported, (Schlottmann, Conant, and Dillmann,) and is much more forcible. He cannot trust (believe) his ears, so joyous is the trumpet blast. AEschylus says of the war-horse: “Impatiently he awaits the call of the trumpet.” — Septem., etc., 394. Compare Job 9:16; Job 39:12.

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

Ground. This expression is still used by the Arabs, to denote velocity. (Grotius) --- Septuagint, "in wrath he will make the earth disappear." (Haydock) --- Mox sanguis venis melior calet, ire viarum

Longa volunt latumque fuga consumere campum. (Nemesianus)

--- Account. Hebrew, "believe that," or "stops not when." He is so eager to rush forward to battle.

Si qua sonum procul arma dedere,

Stare loco nescit, micat auribus et tremit artus. (Georg. iii.)

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged

He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage: neither believeth he that it is the sound of the trumpet.

Swalloweth - fretting with impatience, he draws the ground toward him with his hoof, as if he would swallow it. The parallelism shows this to be the sense: not, as Maurer, 'scours over it.'

Neither believeth - for joy. Rather, 'he will not stand still [ ya'

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(24) Neither believeth he—i.e., he disregardeth the summons of the trumpet, as though he did not believe that it gave the call to war.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

He swalloweth

37:20; Habakkuk 1:8,9

neither

9:16; 29:24; Luke 24:41