Job 39:20 Meaning: The Horse That Leaps Like a Locust

The Hebrew verb at the heart of this verse is ra’ash. It can mean to shake or quake, but in the form used here it carries the force of making something spring or leap. God is not asking whether Job can frighten the horse, as some old translations read. He is asking whether Job can give the horse its leaping energy, the way a locust bounds across a field. The comparison is not about fear but about power in motion.

The word for snorting comes from nachar, which points to the breath or blast from a horse’s nostrils when it is excited. This is not polite breathing. It is the fierce, loud snort of an animal ready to charge. And the word for glory here, hod, means visible majesty, splendor you can see with your own eyes. The horse’s snorting is not just loud; it is glorious, a display of raw life that points back to its Maker. The final word, eimah, means terror. There is something awesome and unsettling about this creature’s power. It is beautiful, and it is also too much for us to have made.

Christians across traditions have read this verse differently on one key point. Older English translations like the King James Version render the verb as “make him afraid,” suggesting the locust is a timid thing that startles easily, and the horse is its fearless opposite. But many modern commentators, drawing on the Hebrew root, read it as “make him leap,” comparing the horse’s springing motion to a locust’s jump. Both readings honor the horse’s strength. The first emphasizes its courage; the second emphasizes its agility and energy. What unites these views is the deeper point: whether the horse leaps or refuses to be afraid, its nature comes from God, not from any human hand.

A common misreading is that God is asking Job if he can make the horse feel afraid, as though the verse were about controlling a horse’s emotions. In fact, the Hebrew verb ra’ash in this form means to cause a quaking or leaping motion, not to produce fear. The comparison to a locust is about how a horse springs forward with energy, not about how easily it is frightened. The point is not that Job lacks power to scare an animal. It is that he lacks power to give any creature its life and drive.

This verse asks you to notice where your own strength comes from. Maybe you have energy for a hard task this week, facing a difficult conversation, getting through a long day of work, caring for someone who is struggling. Before you take the credit, pause. The same God who gave the horse its leaping strength and its fearless snorting is the One who gives you breath for today. You do not have to generate your own power. You can receive it as a gift. And when you face something that feels too big, you can remember: the horse goes into battle not because it is reckless, but because its Maker wired it for courage. You can move forward on the strength He supplies.