Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 39:3

They bow themselves, they bring forth their young ones, they cast out their sorrows.

3. cast out their sorrows ] That is, their pains; with the birth of their young they are rid of their pains also. Or “their pains” may mean “their young,” by a figure common in all poetry.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

They bow themselves – literally, they curve or bend themselves; that is, they draw their limbs together.

They cast out their sorrows – That is, they cast forth the offspring of their pains, or the young which cause their pains. The idea seems to be, that they do this without any of the care and attention which shepherds are obliged to show to their flocks at such seasons. They do it when God only guards them; when they are in the wilderness or on the rocks far away from the abodes of man. The leading thought in all this seems to be, that the tender care of God was over his creatures, in the most perilous and delicate state, and that all this was exercised where man could have no access to them, and could not even observe them.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 3. They bow themselves] In order to bring forth their young ones.

They cast out their sorrows.] chebleyhem; the placenta, afterbirth, or umbilical cord. So this word has been understood.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

They bow themselves; being taught by a Divine instinct to dispose themselves in such a posture as may be fittest for their safe and easy bringing forth.

They bring forth their young ones, to wit, with great pain, being almost torn or rent asunder with the birth, as the word signifies; or, without any of that help which tame beasts oft have.

Their sorrows, i.e. their young ones, and their sorrows together. Or, though (which particle is oft understood) they remit or put away their sorrows, i.e. though instead of cherishing and furthering their sorrows, which for their own ease and safety they should do, they foolishly hinder them, and so increase their own danger; yet by Gods good providence to them they are enabled to bring forth, as was now said.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

3. bow themselvesinparturition; bend on their knees (1Sa4:19).

bring forthliterally,”cause their young to cleave the womb and break forth.”

sorrowstheir youngones, the cause of their momentary pains.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

They bow themselves,…. That they may bring forth their young with greater ease and more safety: for it seems the hinds bring forth their young with great difficulty; and there are provisions in nature made to lessen it; as thunder, before observed, which causes them to bring forth the sooner; and there is an herb called “seselis”, which it is said i they feed upon before birth, to make it the easier; as well as they use that, and another called “aros”, after the birth, to ease them of their later pains;

they bring forth their young ones; renting and cleaving asunder the membrane, as the word signifies, in which their young is wrapped;

they cast out their sorrows; either their young, which they bring forth in pains and which then cease; or the secundines, or afterbirth, in which the young is wrapped, and which the philosopher says k they eat, and is supposed to be medical to them. None but a woman seems to bring forth with more pain than this creature; and a wife is compared to it, Pr 5:19.

i Cicero de Natura Deoram, l. 2. Plin. Nat. Hist. c. 8. 32. Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 9. c. 5. k Aristot. ib.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

3. Their sorrows Used figuratively for the foetus. In like manner Arab poets call the human foetus “pangs.” Euripides uses exactly the same expression as that of the text, . “This purpose of nature is accomplished in them no less surely than in animals housed and watched with tenderness and care.” Conant. Compare Joh 16:21.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

Job 39:3. They bow themselves The manuscripts mark the two last verbs with a circle. Houbigant’s version runs thus: They bow themselves; they burst with their pains; they cast forth their young. But I cannot help disagreeing with the learned father of the Oratory; as the passage, according to our version, appears to me much more emphatical. Every reader of taste must discern peculiar strength and beauty in the expression, They cast out their sorrows. Houbigant renders the 4th verse, [Knowest thou] how their young ones grow up, increase in the fields, and, once departing, return to them no more?Whose house, in the 6th verse, would more properly be rendered whose habitation; and the barren land might be better rendered the thicket. The word melechah, signifies a kind of shrub; the covert, probably, in which these animals delight. See Parkhurst on the word melach, 4.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Job 39:3 They bow themselves, they bring forth their young ones, they cast out their sorrows.

Ver. 3. They bow themselves ] sc. By an instinct of nature, whether it be the pain they suffer, which compelleth them to it, or the fear of hurting their calves, which obligeth them to it.

They bring forth their young ] Diffindunt: fissa sc. et aperta tandem matrice; they bring forth with a great deal of difficulty, to the crushing of their young, which yet escape and grow up. Let good women learn, sperare a Deo faciles et faelices partus, to trust in God for a happy delivery, though it go hard with them, sometimes to the making of some Medea say, Millies in acie mori mallem quam semel parere, I had rather a thousand times die in battle than bring forth one child (Eurip.).

They cast out their sorrows ] Tormina, their throes, and therewith their young, by the benefit of the herbs Arus and Seselis, which they feed upon, for the better bringing away of their gleanings, as they call the involucrum, that wrappeth the young in the matrix (Arist. Hist. Anim. lib. 8, cap. 5; Plin. lib. 8, cap. 31). The Vulgate hath it, They utter roarings; they cast forth cries which are as terrible as the roarings of lionesses. Stato partus tempore valvae dehiscunt quae a partu mox occluduntur; id quod fieri videmus, inquit Galenus, sed quomodo fiat, admirari tantum possumus. Avicenna vocat opus supra mirabilia omnia, mirabile. Sed miracula assiduitate vilescunt. If a man should be born but once in a hundred years, all the world would stand amazed at such a miracle.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

Job 39:3. They bow themselves Being taught by a divine instinct to put themselves into such a posture as may be most fit for their safe and easy bringing forth. They bring forth their young ones Hebrew, , tephallachnah, dissecant, discindunt, scilicet matricem, aut ventrem ad pullos edendos. Buxdorf. They tear, or rend, themselves asunder to bring forth their young. The word is used, Pro 7:23, of a dart striking through and dividing the liver, and may here be considered as signifying, that the wild goats and hinds bring forth their young with as much pain as if a dart pierced them through. They cast out their sorrows Partus suos, their births; LXX., , the pains, or sorrows, of bringing forth; that is, their young ones and their sorrows together.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

39:3 They bow themselves, they {e} bring forth their young ones, they cast out their sorrows.

(e) They bring forth with great difficulty.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes