a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine plural
liking
יַחְלְמ֣וּyach.le.Mu
H2492
properly · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
up
יִרְבּ֣וּyir.Bu
H7235
to increase (in whatever respect) · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
corn
בַבָּ֑רva.Bar
H1250
grain of any kind (even while standing in the field) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
forth
יָ֝צְא֗וּya.tze.'U
H3318
to go (causatively · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
return
שָׁ֥בוּSha.vu
H7725
to turn back (hence · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
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).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 39:1-12
God here shows Job what little acquaintance he had with the untamed creatures that run wild in the deserts and live at large, but are the care of the divine Providence. As,
I. The wild goats and the hinds. That which is taken notice of concerning them is the bringing forth and bringing up of their young ones. For, as every individual is fed, so every species of animals is preserved, by the care of the divine Providence, and, for aught we know, none extinct to this day. Observe here, 1. Concerning the production of their young, (1.) Man is wholly ignorant of the time when they bring forth, Job 39:1, Job 39:2. Shall we pretend to tell what is in the womb of Providence, or what a day will bring…
are in good liking--in good condition, grow up strong.
with corn--rather, "in the field," without man's care.
return not--being able to provide for themselves.
Adam Clarke on Job 39:4
In good liking - After the fawns have sucked for some time, the dam leads them to the pastures, where they feed on different kinds of herbage; but not on corn, for they are not born before harvest-time in Arabia and Palestine, and the stag does not feed on corn, but on grass, moss, and the shoots of the fir, beech, and other trees: therefore the word בר bar, here translated corn, should be translated the open field or country. See Parkhurst. Their nurslings bound away - Mr. Good. In a short time they become independent of the mother, leave her, and return no more. The spirit of the questions in these verses appears to be the following: - Understandest thou the cause of breeding of the mounta…
Their young ones are in good liking,.... Plump, fat, and sleek, as fawns are:
they grow up with corn; by which they grow, or without in the field, as the word also signifies; and their growth and increase is very quick, as Aristotle observes (l);
they go forth, and return not unto them: they go forth into the fields, and shift and provide for themselves, and trouble their dams no more; and return not to them, nor are they known by them.
(l) Ib. (Aristot. Hist. Animal.) l. 6. c. 29.
The Church Fathers
"Their little ones escaped. They broke, the bonds of concupiscence. "They will grow by feeding on wheat; By receiving the lessons of a more perfect wisdom, after the milk of the first teachings. "They will go away and will not come back to them. They will come out of the narrow confines of the teaching given by men to those who begin. They will never return to their mothers because they will no longer need the milk of the teachings of their teachers. Obviously these three sentences should not be in the form of interrogation.
Their young ones are weaned, and go to their pasture; they go forth, and return not unto them. 49. Holy Scripture terms 'pasture' that food of eternal verdure, where our refreshment will no longer waste away with any dryness of failing. Of which pasture it is said by the Psalmist, The Lord ruleth me, and I shall want nothing; He hath placed me there in a place of pasture. [Ps. 23, 1] And again, But we are His people, and the sheep of His pasture. [Ps. 96, 7] And of these pastures, doubtless, the Truth says, by Itself; By Me, if any one hath entered in, he shall be saved, and shall go in and out, and shall find pasture. [John 10, 9] They go therefore to the pasture; because, on going forth from their bodies, they find those refreshments of eternal verdure. They go forth, and return not unto them; because, when they have been caught up in that contemplation of joys, they no longer need to hear the words of teachers. Having gone forth, therefore, they do not return to them; because, escaping the difficulties of this life, they require no longer to receive from teachers the preaching of life. For then that is fulfilled which is written, Each man shall no longer teach his neighbour, and each his brother, saying, Know the Lord; for all shall know Me, from the least of them even unto the greatest, saith the Lord. [Jer. 31, 34] Then is fulfilled that which the Truth says in the Gospel, I shall declare to you plainly of My Father. [John 16, 25] For the Son in truth plainly declares of the Father; because, as we have said before, in that He is the Word, He enlightens us by the nature of the Godhead. For men seek not then for the words of teachers, which are streamlets, as it were, from the tongue of man, when they are themselves already derived from the fount of Truth Itself. After much then had been said, under the figurative bending down of hinds, concerning the virtue of teachers, His words are now directed to the conduct of those, who seek for the secresy of retired conversation.
Dictionary and topics
Hart, The · Young of, abundantly provided for — Young of, abundantly provided for
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).
Keil & Delitzsch on Job 39:1-4
1 Dost thou know the bearing time of the wild goats of the rock?
Observest thou the circles of the hinds?
2 Dost thou number the months which they fulfil,
And knowest thou the time of their bringing forth?
3 They bow down, they let their young break through,
They cast off their pains.
4 Their young ones gain strength, grow up in the desert,
They run away and do not return.
The strophe treats of the female chamois or steinbocks, ibices (perhaps including the certainly different kinds of chamois), and stags. The former are called יעלים, from יעל, Arab. w‛l (a secondary formation from עלה, Arab. ‛lâ), to mount, therefore: rock-climbers. חולל is inf. Pil.: τὸ ὠδίνειν, comp. the Pul. Job 15:7…
and do not return to them When they have grown a little, they are raised on the grain, on seeds and grasses, and they do not require the raising of their father or mother.
