Bible Strands
Job 39:17
For God has deprived her of wisdom; He has not endowed her with understanding.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The speaker addresses Job regarding the ostrich, following the description of her harsh treatment of her young in the preceding verse.
The words — The text states God has deprived the creature of `חָכְמָה` (chokmah), meaning wisdom, and has not given her a portion of `בִּינָה` (binah), meaning understanding.
The thread — This theme of God withholding understanding appears when He hardens Sihon’s spirit (Deuteronomy 2:30), when He allows the Babylonian envoys to reach Hezekiah (2 Chronicles 32:31), and when contrasting human learning with divine instruction (Job 35:11).
Why it lands — The verse demands recognition that human standards of wisdom and capability do not govern all creation, requiring the reader to accept divine sovereignty over natural design without demanding human justification.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding.
Cross-references
- Job 35:11 who teaches us more than the beasts of the earth and makes us wiser than the birds of the air?’
- Deuteronomy 2:30 But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass through, for the LORD your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate, that He might deliver him into your hand, as is the case this day.
- 2 Chronicles 32:31 And so when ambassadors of the rulers of Babylon were sent to him to inquire about the wonder that had happened in the land, God left him alone to test him, that He might know all that was in Hezekiah’s heart.
- Job 17:4 You have closed their minds to understanding; therefore You will not exalt them.
- Isaiah 19:11 The princes of Zoan are mere fools; Pharaoh’s wise counselors give senseless advice. How can you say to Pharaoh, “I am one of the wise, a son of eastern kings”?
- Isaiah 57:17 I was enraged by his sinful greed, so I struck him and hid My face in anger; yet he kept turning back to the desires of his heart.
- James 1:17 Every good and perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of the heavenly lights, with whom there is no change or shifting shadow.