38:39 “Do you hunt prey for the lioness,
and satisfy the appetite 4 of the lions,
38:40 when they crouch in their dens,
when they wait in ambush in the thicket?
39:1 “Are you acquainted with the way 5
the mountain goats 6 give birth?
Do you watch as the wild deer give birth to their young?
39:5 Who let the wild donkey go free?
Who released the bonds of the donkey,
39:9 Is the wild ox willing to be your servant?
Will it spend the night at your feeding trough?
39:19 “Do you give the horse its strength?
Do you clothe its neck with a mane? 7
40:15 “Look now at Behemoth, 9 which I made as 10 I made you;
it eats grass like the ox.
50:9 I do not need to take 11 a bull from your household
or goats from your sheepfolds.
50:10 For every wild animal in the forest belongs to me,
as well as the cattle that graze on a thousand hills. 12
104:18 The wild goats live in the high mountains; 13
the rock badgers find safety in the cliffs.
104:23 Men then go out to do their work,
and labor away until evening. 14
148:10 you animals and all you cattle,
you creeping things and birds,
1 tn Heb “to keep alive.”
2 tn The verb “entered” is not in the Hebrew text, but is supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.
3 tn Heb “every bird, every wing.”
4 tn Heb “fill up the life of.”
5 tn The text uses the infinitive as the object: “do you know the giving birth of?”
6 tn Or “ibex.”
7 tn The second half of the verse contains this hapax legomenon, which is usually connected with the word רַעְמָה (ra’mah, “thunder”). A. B. Davidson thought it referred to the quivering of the neck rather than the mane. Gray thought the sound and not the movement was the point. But without better evidence, a reading that has “quivering mane” may not be far off the mark. But it may be simplest to translate it “mane” and assume that the idea of “quivering” is part of the meaning.
8 sn The next ten verses are devoted to a portrayal of Behemoth (the name means “beast” in Hebrew). It does not fit any of the present material very well, and so many think the section is a later addition. Its style is more like that of a textbook. Moreover, if the animal is a real animal (the usual suggestion is the hippopotamus), then the location of such an animal is Egypt and not Palestine. Some have identified these creatures Behemoth and Leviathan as mythological creatures (Gunkel, Pope). Others point out that these creatures could have been dinosaurs (P. J. Maarten, NIDOTTE, 2:780; H. M. Morris, The Remarkable Record of Job, 115-22). Most would say they are real animals, but probably mythologized by the pagans. So the pagan reader would receive an additional impact from this point about God’s sovereignty over all nature.
9 sn By form the word is the feminine plural of the Hebrew word for “beast.” Here it is an abstract word – a title.
10 tn Heb “with you.” The meaning could be temporal (“when I made you”) – perhaps a reference to the sixth day of creation (Gen 1:24).
11 tn Or “I will not take.”
12 tn Heb “[the] animals on a thousand hills.” The words “that graze” are supplied in the translation for clarification. The term בְּהֵמוֹה (bÿhemot, “animal”) refers here to cattle (see Ps 104:14).
13 tn Heb “the high mountains [are] for the goats.”
14 tn Heb “man goes out to his work, and to his labor until evening.”