Job 39 · Verse 17

Job 39:17

Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding.
Job 39:17, King James Version

Job 39:17 in other translations

BSBFor God has deprived her of wisdom; He has not endowed her with understanding.
WEBbecause God has deprived her of wisdom, neither has he imparted to her understanding.
ASVBecause God hath deprived her of wisdom, Neither hath he imparted to her understanding.
YLTFor God hath caused her to forget wisdom, And He hath not given a portion To her in understanding:
DARBYFor God hath deprived her of wisdom, and hath not furnished her with understanding.
BBEFor God has taken wisdom from her mind, and given her no measure of knowledge.
WebsterBecause God hath withheld wisdom from her, neither hath he imparted to her understanding.

What does Job 39:17 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
17. wisdom--such as God gives to other animals, and to man (Job 35:11). The Arab proverb is, "foolish as an ostrich." Yet her very seeming want of wisdom is not without wise design of God, though man cannot see it; just as in the trials of the godly, which seem so unreasonable to Job, there lies hid a wise design.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 17 God hath deprived her of wisdom - Of this foolishness we have an account from the ancients; and here follow two instances: 1. It covers its head in the reeds, and thinks itself all out of sight because itself cannot see. So Claudian: - - 'Stat lumine clauso Ridendum revoluta caput: creditque latere Quad non ipsa videt.' 2. They who hunt them draw the skin of an ostrich's neck on one hand, which proves a sufficient lure to take them with the other. They have so little brain that Heliogabalus had six hundred heads for his supper. Here we may observe, that our judicious as well as sublime author just touches the great points of distinction in each creature, and then hastens to another. A description is exact when you cannot add but what is common to another thing; nor withdraw, but something peculiarly belonging to the thing described. A likeness is lost in too much description, as a meaning is often in too much illustration." - Dr. Young.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Job 39:17 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

כִּֽי\־ki-forH3588
הִשָּׁ֣הּhi.Shahhe has made forget itH5382
אֱל֣וֹהַּ'e.Lo.ahGodH433
חָכְמָ֑הchokh.mahwisdomH2451
וְלֹא\־ve.lo'-and notH3808
חָ֥לַקCha.lakhe gave a shareH2505
לָ֝֗הּLahto it
בַּבִּינָֽה\׃ba.bi.Nahin <the> understandingH998

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Job 39:17

  • Job 35:11

    Who teacheth us more than the beasts of the earth, and maketh us wiser than the fowls of heaven?

  • James 1:17

    Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning.

  • Isaiah 57:17

    For the iniquity of his covetousness was I wroth, and smote him: I hid me, and was wroth, and he went on frowardly in the way of his heart.

  • 2 Chronicles 32:31

    Howbeit in the business of the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent unto him to enquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him, to try him, that he might know all that was in his heart.

  • Deuteronomy 2:30

    But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him: for the Lord thy God hardened his spirit, and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into thy hand, as appeareth this day.

  • Isaiah 19:11-14

    Surely the princes of Zoan are fools, the counsel of the wise counsellors of Pharaoh is become brutish: how say ye unto Pharaoh, I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings? Where are they? where are thy wise men? and let them tell thee now, and let them know what the Lord of hosts hath purposed upon Egypt. The princes of Zoan are become fools, the princes of Noph are deceived; they have also seduced Egypt, even they that are the stay of the tribes thereof. The Lord hath mingled a perverse spirit in the midst thereof: and they have caused Egypt to err in every work thereof, as a drunken man staggereth in his vomit.

  • Job 17:4

    For thou hast hid their heart from understanding: therefore shalt thou not exalt them.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
17:4; 35:11; De 2:30; 2Ch 32:31; Isa 19:11-14; 57:17; Jas 1:17

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Job 39:16

    She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers: her labour is in vain without fear;

  • Job 39:17

    Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding.

  • Job 39:18

    What time she lifteth up herself on high, she scorneth the horse and his rider.

Read all of Job 39

Job 39:17 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		El cual desampara en la tierra sus huevos, y sobre el polvo los calienta,
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Car ✝Dieu l’a privée de sagesse, et ne lui a pas départi l’intelligence.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Denn Gott ließ sie der Weisheit vergessen, und keinen Verstand teilte er ihr zu.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Privavit enim eam Deus sapientia, nec dedit illi intelligentiam.