Bible Strands
Job 39:30
His young ones feast on blood; and where the slain are, there he is.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God addresses Job through a series of rhetorical questions about untamed animals to demonstrate His sovereign control over creation. This verse concludes the description of the hawk's hunting behavior within that discourse.
The words — The Hebrew יְעַלְעוּ (ye'ale'u) literally means "they drink," describing the young hawks consuming blood. The term חֲלָלִים (chalalim) refers to "the slain" or those struck down, indicating the location of the prey.
The thread — The motif of birds gathering where the dead lie appears in Matthew 24:28 and Luke 17:37, while Ezekiel 39:17 summons birds and beasts to a divinely provided feast of flesh and blood.
Why it lands — The text states that the predator instinctively locates and consumes the fallen without human direction. It requires the reader to acknowledge that God establishes and sustains violent natural processes according to His design.
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
Her young ones also suck up blood: and where the slain are, there is she.
Cross-references
- Matthew 24:28 Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.
- Luke 17:37 “Where, Lord?” they asked. Jesus answered, “Wherever there is a carcass, there the vultures will gather.”
- Ezekiel 39:17 And as for you, son of man, this is what the Lord GOD says: Call out to every kind of bird and to every beast of the field: ‘Assemble and come together from all around to the sacrificial feast that I am preparing for you, a great feast on the mountains of Israel. There you will eat flesh and drink blood.