Job 39:2

Can you count the months they are pregnant? Do you know the time they give birth?

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — God speaks to Job in a rhetorical exchange about animal creation, immediately following a question about mountain goats and does in Job 39:1.

The words — תִּסְפֹּ֣ר (tispor) means "will you count," paired with יְרָחִ֣ים (yereḥîm), "months," while לִדְתָּֽנָה (lidtānāh) literally denotes "they bring forth."

The thread — The same rhetorical pattern of questioning human knowledge over animal birth appears in Job 39:1 and Job 39:3, while Jeremiah 2:24 similarly highlights human inability to control wild creatures.

Why it lands — The text states that no person can track gestation periods or predict delivery times. It requires the reader to accept human limitation regarding natural processes that God alone governs.

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

תִּסְפֹּ֣רtis.Porwill you count?יְרָחִ֣יםye.ra.Chim[the] months תְּמַלֶּ֑אנָהte.ma.Le.nah[which] they complete וְ֝יָדַ֗עְתָּve./ya.Da'.taand/ do you know?עֵ֣ת'et[the] time of לִדְתָּֽנָה׃lid.Ta./nahbringing forth/ they

King James Version

Canst thou number the months that they fulfil? or knowest thou the time when they bring forth?

Cross-references

Jeremiah 2:24 a wild donkey at home in the wilderness, sniffing the wind in the heat of her desire. Who can restrain her passion? All who seek her need not weary themselves; in mating season they will find her.