Job 39:17 · Bible study
Job 39:17 Commentary: God's Sovereign Design in the Ostrich's Lack of Wisdom
Hebrew · 10 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Job 39:17 shows God actively depriving the ostrich of wisdom.
Research Summary
- Meaning: God actively withholds wisdom from the ostrich as part of His sovereign creative design.
- Key words: hishshah (caused to forget, deprived); chokhmah (wisdom); chalaq lo (gave no share); binah (understanding).
- Main debate: Whether God's action is punitive or purely descriptive of natural limitations, commentators lean toward purposeful design.
- Theological theme: Divine sovereignty over all aspects of creation, including the distribution of wisdom.
- Best use: In teaching on theodicy, humility, and trusting God's wisdom when His ways are inscrutable.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
For God has deprived her of wisdom; He has not endowed her with understanding.
WEB World English Bible 2000
because God has deprived her of wisdom, neither has he imparted to her understanding.
KJV King James Version 1769
Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, Neither hath he imparted to her understanding.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
For God hath caused her to forget wisdom, And He hath not given a portion To her in understanding:
Darby Darby Bible 1890
For God hath deprived her of wisdom, and hath not furnished her with understanding.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
For God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he given her understanding.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
El cual desampara en la tierra sus huevos, y sobre el polvo los calienta,
Porque Deus a privou de sabedoria, e não lhe repartiu entendimento.
Mais l’autruche abandonne ses œufs à la terre,
Denn Gott hat ihm die Weisheit genommen und hat ihm keinen Verstand zugeteilt.
Want God heeft haar van wijsheid ontbloot, en heeft haar des verstands niet medegedeeld.
ché Iddio l’ha privato di sapienza, e non gli ha impartito intelligenza.
Który niesie na ziemi jajka swoje, a w prochu ogrzewa je.
потому что Бог не дал ему мудрости и не уделил ему смысла;
因為 神 使牠沒有 智慧，也未 將悟性 賜 給牠。
For God has taken wisdom from her mind, and given her no measure of knowledge.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Job 39:17
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators agree that this verse describes God's direct action in withholding wisdom from the ostrich. The Hebrew verb hishshah (Hiphil of H5382) means “he caused to forget” or “he deprived,” making God the active agent behind the ostrich's apparent foolishness. Barnes notes that this “remarkable arrangement” is not chance but divine appointment, while Keil and Delitzsch emphasize that “Eloah hath caused her to forget wisdom.” Jamieson-Fausset-Brown adds that the ostrich's seeming lack of wisdom “is not without wise design of God, though man cannot see it.” Matthew Henry observes that wisdom does not always accompany beauty. The consensus: God sovereignly distributes wisdom according to His purposes, and even apparent deficiencies serve His good design.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Literal causation: The Hebrew verb 'caused to forget' implies direct divine action; supported by cross-references like Deuteronomy 2:30 and Isaiah 19:14 where God hardens or confuses.
- Descriptive anthropomorphism: The language is poetic; God is described as doing what He merely permits through natural processes, emphasizing human limitation rather than divine causation.
- Theodicean design: The verse fits God's broader argument that weakness and limitation have a purpose in creation, challenging Job's (and humanity's) demand for explanation.
What is clear: God is sovereign over the wisdom and understanding of every creature, and His purposes are not always immediately visible to human observers.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| God's role in the ostrich's lack of wisdom | Christians agree that God is sovereign and that the ostrich's behaviour is not random but part of His creative order. | Some traditions emphasize God's direct causation (He actively deprives), while others understand this as a figurative description of how natural limitations appear from a human perspective. |
| The goodness of God in withholding wisdom | All affirm that God's actions are good and purposeful, even when they seem puzzling. | Catholics and many Protestants see this as an example of God's wisdom working through secondary causes, while some Reformed traditions stress the absolute sovereignty of God in decreeing all things, including deficiencies. |
| Application to human suffering | The verse teaches humility before God's inscrutable ways. | Some argue it directly supports the idea that God withholds understanding from certain people for His purposes (drawing on Job 17:4 and Isaiah 19:14), while others see this as a description of animal nature only, not a pattern for human life. |
Historical & Cultural Context
Job 39:17 sits within God's second speech to Job (chapters 38, 41), where God parades a series of wild animals before Job to demonstrate His sovereign power over creation. The ostrich (Hebrew renanim, probably a poetic name derived from its cry) was well known in the ancient Near East as a puzzling creature. Arab proverbs called it “more stupid than an ostrich,” as the Cambridge Bible notes, and ancient writers like Pliny and Claudian recorded instances of its foolish behaviour, hiding its head in reeds while thinking itself unseen, abandoning eggs in the dust, and being easily trapped by hunters.
Yet the same bird, when roused, could outrun a horse (Job 39:18). The verse therefore presents a paradox: a creature that seems foolish in one regard but swift and powerful in another. This fits the broader theme of God's speech: Job cannot comprehend the ways of wild animals, so how can he comprehend God's ways? By stating that God “deprived her of wisdom,” the text claims that even the ostrich's limitations are purposeful, part of a created order that humans do not control or fully understand.
Textual Notes
The consulted sources note no significant textual variants for Job 39:17. The Hebrew text is stable across manuscripts, with the reading hishshah (Hiphil perfect) well supported.
Reception History
Early Jewish and Christian interpreters read this verse as evidence that God's wisdom governs even the instincts of animals. The rabbinic tradition saw the ostrich as a lesson in trusting God's provision despite apparent neglect. Early modern commentators like Matthew Henry used it to contrast natural gifts with spiritual wisdom, noting that “wisdom does not always go along with beauty and gaiety.” John Gill drew on ancient natural historians to catalogue the ostrich's foolish traits, while Keil and Delitzsch connected the verse to Arabic proverbs. In modern preaching, the verse is often used to illustrate God's sovereignty over all creatures and to challenge human assumptions about what is wise or foolish.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- God distributes wisdom as He chooses. The verb “deprived” (Hiphil of nashah) describes an intentional act. Wisdom is not a random accident; it is measured out by the Creator.
- Apparent foolishness can serve a hidden purpose. The ostrich's neglect of eggs is balanced by its speed and strength. What looks like a defect may be part of a larger design (Barnes, JFB).
- Human assessment of God's work is limited. Job wanted to question God's justice. God responds by showing a creature where wisdom is absent, yet the creature still fulfills its role in creation.
Five-point outline
- The context: God's answer to Job from the whirlwind (Job 38:1).
- The creature: the ostrich, with its contradictory traits.
- The action: God actively withholds wisdom (Hebrew “caused to forget”).
- The result: the ostrich lives without understanding, yet thrives by other means.
- The lesson: God's sovereignty covers both gifts and lacks; neither is outside His plan.
Illustration hooks
- A gardener plants bulbs that need a cold winter to bloom. To the bulb, winter seems destructive; to the gardener, it is necessary for growth.
- A teacher notices that a student who struggles with book learning excels at hands-on work. The “weakness” in one area reveals a different kind of strength.
- A team member who cannot multitask may bring deep focus to a single task. Limitations are not always liabilities.
Questions your congregation is asking
- If God withholds wisdom, does that mean some people are born with less ability, and is that fair?
- How do I trust God when my own limitations feel like a curse rather than a design?
- Does this verse teach that God deliberately makes some creatures (or people) less capable, and if so, why?
Leading a Discussion
This verse raises hard questions about God's involvement in our weaknesses. It does not offer easy answers, but it invites us to see that the same God who made the ostrich's apparent foolishness also gave it speed and strength. The goal of this discussion is not to explain away the verse, but to sit with the mystery of God's sovereignty over all things, including what we perceive as flaws.
Discussion questions
- Read Job 39:13, 18. What is surprising about the way God describes the ostrich?
- The Hebrew word for “deprived” literally means “caused to forget.” Why does the language of causation matter here?
- Barnes says the ostrich's arrangement is not chance but divine appointment. How does that idea challenge or comfort you?
- In what ways do you see wisdom (or its lack) as a gift from God rather than just a human achievement?
- How does this verse connect to God's larger argument with Job in chapters 38, 41?
- What does this verse teach about trusting God when life feels senseless or unfair?
- How can we hold together God's goodness and His sovereign decision to allow weakness or limitation?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Deuteronomy 2:30 | But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass by him, for Yahweh your God hardened his spirit and made his heart obstinate, that he might deliver him into your hand, as it is today. |
| II Chronicles 32:31 | However, concerning the ambassadors of the princes of Babylon, who sent to him to inquire of the wonder that was done in the land, God left him to test him, that he might know all that was in his heart. |
| Job 17:4 | For you have hidden their heart from understanding, therefore you will not exalt them. |
| Job 35:11 | who teaches us more than the animals of the earth, and makes us wiser than the birds of the sky?’ |
| Isaiah 19:11 | The princes of Zoan are utterly foolish. The counsel of the wisest counselors of Pharaoh has become stupid. How do you say to Pharaoh, “I am the son of the wise, the son of ancient kings”? |
| Isaiah 19:14 | Yahweh has mixed a spirit of perverseness in the middle of her; and they have caused Egypt to go astray in all of its works, like a drunken man staggers in his vomit. |
| Isaiah 57:17 | I was angry because of the iniquity of his covetousness and struck him. I hid myself and was angry; and he went on backsliding in the way of his heart. |
| James 1:17 | Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom can be no variation nor turning shadow. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
10 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke notes that a precise description includes only what all creatures share and nothing unique to the subject. He believes adding special features destroys the likeness.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
Barnes stresses that the ostrich's apparent lack of wisdom is not an oversight but a deliberate divine arrangement. God's care is evident in her preservation and in traits like her remarkable speed when threatened, which shows His goodness even where human standards would see weakness.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges notes that some read this verse as showing God has taken away the woman’s wisdom. It also cites an Arabic proverb comparing her to an ostrich that abandons its own eggs.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
Geneva Bible Notes notes that the creature mentioned leaves its eggs in the ground where they are heated by the dust. This shows how God provides for all living things through natural processes.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill emphasizes that the ostrich's foolishness is a deliberate act of God, who withholds wisdom and leaves the bird with a remarkably short memory and a stupefied nature. He supports this with ancient naturalists' observations of the ostrich swallowing stones, hiding its head, and having very little brain.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
Jamieson Fausset Brown notes that God gives wisdom to animals and people alike as seen in Job 35:11. He also says the ostrich appears foolish but has a wise purpose from God even though humans cannot see it.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil-Delitzsch draw on the Hebrew wordplay where the stork's name means pious to contrast with the ostrich, whom God caused to forget wisdom. The ostrich carelessly abandons its eggs, yet when it rises and runs it derides the horse and rider with astonishing speed. This apparent folly is part of God's design.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange notes that God’s appearance in the storm is not a physical body appearing. It is a hidden presence felt through sound and light that shows God’s power without showing a human form. This reveals Job’s smallness and leads him to submit.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry notes that the ostrich’s lack of flight comes because God has taken away its wisdom. He also says the ostrich shows a poor attitude toward its young by ignoring danger and caring for them not at all.
Wesley's Explanatory Notes Methodist/Wesleyan 1754
Wesley notes that God did not give the ostrich mother any natural desire to care for her eggs. This lack of instinct means she does not protect them as other animals do. Your hope comes from Christ and the resurrection.