to undulate (as the earth · interrogative particle + verb, hiphil imperfect, 2nd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
grasshopper
כָּאַרְבֶּ֑הka.'ar.Beh
H697
a locust (from its rapid increase) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
glory
ה֖וֹדHod
H1935
grandeur (i.e. an imposing form and appearance) · noun, common masculine singular construct
nostrils
נַחְר֣וֹnach.Ro
H5170
a snorting · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
terrible
אֵימָֽה'ei.Mah
H367
fright · noun, common feminine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Jeremiah 8:16 The snorting of his horses was heard from Dan: the whole land trembled at the sound of the neighing of his strong ones; for they are come, a…
Job 41:20-21 Out of his nostrils goeth smoke, as out of a seething pot or caldron.
Joel 2:5 Like the noise of chariots on the tops of mountains shall they leap, like the noise of a flame of fire that devoureth the stubble, as a stro…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 39:19-25
God, having displayed his own power in those creatures that are strong and despise man, here shows it in one scarcely inferior to any of them in strength, and yet very tame and serviceable to man, and that is the horse, especially the horse that is prepared against the day of battle and is serviceable to man at a time when he has more than ordinary occasion for his service. It seems, there was, in Job's country, a noble generous breed of horses. Job, it is probable, kept many, though they are not mentioned among his possessions, cattle for use in husbandry being there valued more than those for state and war, which alone horses were then reserved for, and they were not then put to such mean…
make . . . afraid--rather, "canst thou (as I do) make him spring as the locust?" So in Joe 2:4, the comparison is between locusts and war-horses. The heads of the two are so similar that the Italians call the locusts cavaletta, "little horse."
nostrils--snorting furiously.
Adam Clarke on Job 39:19
Hast thou given the horse strength? - Before I proceed to any observations, I shall give Mr. Good's version of this, perhaps inimitable, description: -
Job 39:19 Hast thou bestowed on the horse mettle?Hast thou clothed his neck with the thunder flash?
Job 39:20 Hast thou given him to launch forth as an arrow?Terrible is the pomp of his nostrils.
Job 39:21 He paweth in the valley, and exulteth.Boldly he advanceth against the clashing host:
Job 39:22 He mocketh at fear, and trembleth not:Nor turneth he back from the sword.
Job 39:23 Against him rattleth the quiver,The glittering spear, and the shield:
Job 39:24 With rage and fury he devoureth the ground;And is impatient when the trumpet sound…
Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper?.... Which is frightened at every noise, and at any approach of men; but not so the horse; or canst thou move him, or cause him to skip and jump, or rather leap like a grasshopper? that is, hast thou given, or canst thou give him the faculty of leaping over hedges and ditches, for which the horse is famous? so Neptune's war horses are said (q) to be good leapers;
the glory of his nostrils is terrible: which may be understood of his sneezing, snorting, pawing, and neighing, when his nostrils are broad, spread, and enlarged; and especially when enraged and in battle, when he foams and fumes, and his breath comes out of his nostrils like smoke (r),…
The Church Fathers
"Boldness is the glory of his chest," The boldness that made Isaiah speak and act (1). Our glory is our conscience (2) when it finds our actions good, so that everyone has something to boast about in himself and not in another (3).
Wilt thou rouse him as the locusts? [MORAL INTERPRETATION] 75. Every one, who follows God, is, at his beginning, roused as a locust, because, though in some of his doings he clings to the earth, like the locusts, with bended knees, yet in some of them he raises himself up into the air with expanded wings. For the beginnings of conversions are a mixture of good and evil habits, whilst both the new life is carried on in intention, and the old life is still retained from habit. But we are so much the less injured by the evil being meanwhile mixed up with us, the more we daily contend against it without ceasing. Nor does the fault, whose evil habit our mind anxiously opposes, claim us any longer as its own. And therefore, worldly pursuits injure us less, when beginners; because they are forbidden to remain any longer within us. Accordingly, because the Lord mercifully tolerates some weaknesses in us in the very beginning of our conversion, that He may lead us at length to heavenly things, by perfection, He rouses us at first as locusts; because though He raises us aloft by the flight of virtue, He yet despairs not at our falling by worldly doing. It follows; The glory of his nostrils is terror. 76. Because a thing, which is not seen, is detected by its smell, by the word 'nostrils' are expressed, not improperly, the thoughts of our hope; by which we already foresee in hope the coming judgment, though we as yet behold it not with our eyes. But every one, who begins to live righteously, on hearing that the righteous are, by the last judgment, summoned to the kingdom, is joyful; but because he considers that some evils are still remaining within him, he dreads the approach of this very judgment, about which he is beginning to rejoice. For he beholds his life to be a mixture of good and evil, and confuses his thoughts, in a measure, with hope and fear. For when he hears what are the joys of the kingdom, happiness immediately elevates his mind; and again when he considers what are the torments of hell, fear immediately disturbs his mind. The 'glory of his nostrils' is therefore well called 'terror:' because being placed between hope and fear, whilst he beholds in his mind the future judgment, he dreads the very thing, from which he glories. His own glory is itself his terror; because, having commenced good deeds, he rejoices in hope at the judgment, and, not having…
Dictionary and topics
Horse — Always referred to in the Bible in connection with warlike operations, except Isa. 28:28. The war-horse is described Job 39:19-25. For a long period after their settlement in Canaan the Israelites…
B · Unclean: Horse — Unclean: Horse
Horse · .Great strength — .Great strength
Horse, The · Described as: Fearless — Described as: Fearless
Insects · Mentioned in scripture: Grasshopper — Mentioned in scripture: Grasshopper
Locust · In A. V. often inaccurately translated “grasshopper,” as in — In A. V. often inaccurately translated “grasshopper,” as in
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
19 Dost thou give to the horse strength?
Dost thou clothe his neck with flowing hair?
20 Dost thou cause him to leap about like the grasshopper?
The noise of his snorting is a terror!
21 He paweth the ground in the plain, and boundeth about with strength.
He advanceth to meet an armed host.
22 He laugheth at fear, and is not affrighted,
And turneth not back from the sword.
23 The quiver rattleth over him,
The glittering lance and spear.
24 With fierceness and rage he swalloweth the ground,
And standeth not still, when the trumpet soundeth.
25 He saith at every blast of the trumpet: Ha, ha!
And from afar he scenteth the battle,
The thundering of the captains and the shout of war.
After the os…
Wilt thou rouse him as the locusts? 45. By the name 'locusts' is sometimes signified the Jewish people, sometimes the converted Gentiles, sometimes the tongue of flatterers, but sometimes, by comparison, the Resurrection of the Lord, or the life of preachers. For, that locusts express the people of the Jews, the life of John points out to us; of whom it is written; He did eat locusts and wild honey. [Mark 1, 6] For John proclaims, even in the kind of his food, Him, Whom he foretells with the authority of prophecy. For in himself he designated the Lord, Whom he preceded. And He, doubtless, coming for our redemption, ate wild honey, because He took of the sweetness of the unfruitful Gentiles. But, because He partly converted the people of the Jews, in His own body, He took locusts for food. For the locusts, which give sudden leaps, but fall immediately to the ground, signify them. For they were leaping, when they were promising to fulfil the precepts of the Lord; but they were falling speedily to the ground, when, by their wicked works, they were denying they had heard them. Let us behold in them a kind of leaping of locusts; All the words, which the Lord hath said, will we both do and hear. [Ex. 19, 8] But let us see how they speedily fall to the ground; Would we had died in Egypt, and not in this vast wilderness. Would we may perish, and that the Lord may not lead us into that land. [Numb. 14, 2] They were therefore locusts, because they used to leap in their words, but fall in their doings. 46. By the name of 'locusts' is the Gentile people also designated, as Solomon witnesses, who says; The almond tree shall flourish, the locust shall become fat, the caper tree shall he destroyed. [Eccles. 12, 5] For the almond shews its blossom before all other trees. And what are designated by the flower of the almond, except the beginnings of Holy Church? which expanded the primitive flowers of virtues in her preachers, and, in order to bring forth the fruits of good works, preceded the saints which were to come, as shrubs which were to follow. And in this was the locust soon made fat; because the dry barrenness of the Gentile world was watered by the fatness of heavenly grace. The caper tree is destroyed; because when the Gentile world attained, on its call, the grace of faith, Judaea, remaining in its barrenness, lost the course of good living. Hence it is said…
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
