Job 39:29

Job 39:29 From thence she seeketh the prey, [and] her eyes behold afar off.

Ver. 29. From thence she seeketh her prey] Besides fowls (whereof she is called the queen) she preyeth upon hares, hinds, foxes, and such other beasts as she can master. Hence that complaint of the hare,

In me omnis terraeque marisque aviumque ruina est (Martial).

And her eyes behold afar off] To a very great distance. She has sharp sight, and first sees her prey, and then seeks it. Her sight is so strong, that she can look intently into the body of the sun without being dazzled; and by that property makes proof of her young ones whether they be right or not. Those that cannot so behold the sun she drives out of the nest as spurious. Those that can she owneth, and beareth abroad with her open wings (as Munster noteth out of R. Solomon, Schol. in Deu 32:11), that none can shoot them but through her body; and thereto Moses alludeth, Exo 19:4.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Job 39:29-30. Her eyes behold afar off — Dr. Young observes, that “the eagle is said to be of so acute a sight that, when she is so high in the air that man cannot see her, she can discern the smallest fish in the water.” The author of this book accurately understood the nature of the creatures he describes, and seems to have been as great a naturalist as a poet. Her young ones also suck up blood — Either the blood of the prey which the eagle hath brought to her nest for them, or of that which themselves catch and kill, being betimes inured to this work by their dams. And where the slain are, there is she — Where any dead carcasses are, she in an instant flies thither with admirable celerity, spying them from those vast heights from which she looks down upon the earth. And though there are some eagles which do not feed upon carcasses, yet the generality of them, it appears do feed on them.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

That is, when cold cometh, to fly into the warm countries.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

seeketh--is on the lookout for.

behold--The eagle descries its prey at an astonishing distance, by sight, rather than smell.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 29. Her eyes behold afar off.] The eagle was proverbial for her strong and clear sight. So Horace, lib. i., sat. iii., ver. 25: -

Cum tua pervideas oculis mala lippus inunctis,

Cur in amicorum vitas tam cernis acutum,

Quam aut aquila, aut serpens Epidaurius?

"For wherefore while you carelessly pass by

Your own worst vices with unheeding eye,

Why so sharp-sighted in another's fame,

Strong as an eagle's ken, or dragon's beam?"

FRANCIS.

So AElian, lib. i., cap. 42. And Homer, Iliad xvii., calls the eagle οξυτατον ὑπουρανιων πετεηνων, "The most quick-sighted of all fowls under heaven."

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

From thence she seeketh the prey,.... From the high rock; from whence she can look down into valleys, and even into the sea; and spy what is for her purpose, and descend and seize upon them; as lambs, fawns, geese, shellfish, &c. though they may lie in the most hidden and secret places. Wherefore in the original text it is, "she diggeth the prey or food" (s); as treasure hid in secret is dug or diligently searched for; and for which she is qualified by the sharpness of her sight, as follows:

and her eyes behold afar off; from the high rocks and higher clouds, even from the high sky, as Aelianus (t) expresses it; and who observes that she is the most sharp sighted of all birds; and so, Homer (u) says, some affirm.

(s) "fodit escam"; Montanus, Mercerus. (t) De Animal. l. 2. c. 26. & l. 1. c. 42. Aristot. & Plin. ut supra. (Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 9. c. 32. Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 3.) (u) Iliad. 17. v. 674, 675. so Diodor. Sic. l. 3. p. 145.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

From, thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off - “When far aloft, and no longer discernible by the human eye, such is the wonderful acuteness of its sight, that from the same elevation it will mark a hare, or even a smaller animal, and dart down on it with unerring aim.” “Edin. Ency.” “Of all animals, the eagle has the quickest eye; but his sense of smelling is far inferior to that of the vulture. He never pursues, therefore, but in sight.” “Goldsmith.” This power of sight was early known, and is celebrated by the ancients. Thus, Homer, r’ - . verse 674.

- ὥστ ̓ ἀιετός ὄν ῥά τε φασὶν

Ὀξύσατον δέρκεσθαι ὑπουρανίων πετεηνῶν.

- hōst' aietos on ra te fasin

Oxusaton derkesthai hupouraniōn peteēnōn.

“As the eagle of whom it is said that it enjoys the keenest vision of

All the fowls under heaven.”

So Aelian, II. L. i. 32. Also Horace “Serm.” L. i. Sat. 3:

- tam cernit acutum

Quam aut aquila, aut serpeus Epidaurus.

The Arabic writers say that the eagle can see “four hundred parasangs.” “Damir,” as quoted by Scheutzer. It is now ascertained that birds of prey search out or discern their food rather by the sight than the smell. No sooner does a camel fall and die on the plains of Arabia, than there may be seen in the far-distant sky apparently a black speck, which is soon discovered to be a vulture hastening to its prey. From that vast distance the bird, invisible to human eye, has seen the prey stretched upon the sand and immediately commences toward it its rapid flight.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Off. The eagle was remarkably (Calmet) quick-sighted, (Worthington) as well as the serpent. (Horace i. Sat. iii.; Homer, Iliad xvii.) --- They say it can discern a fly or a fish from the highest situation; (Bochart) and if its young seem dazzled with the sun-beams, it hurls them down as spurious. (Pliny x. 3.)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Her sight is exceeding sharp and strong, so that she is able to look upon the sun with open eyes, and to behold the smallest prey upon the earth or sea, when she is mounted out of our sight; which when she spies, she flies to it with incredible swiftness, even like an arrow out of a bow.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

29. Her eyes behold afar — Homer accords to the eagle the keenest vision of all birds. (Iliad, 17:674.) Similarly, Horace, “sharp-sighted as an eagle.” — Satire I, 3:27. The Arabs have a proverb, “More quick sighted than the eagle,” and they say, hyperbolically, that she can see a carcass at the distance of forty parasangs, or about one hundred and fifty miles.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

From thence she seeketh the prey, and her eyes behold afar off. Aristotle gives this as a reason for the lofty flight of the eagle, Uqou petatai opwv epi pleiston topon kayora . The keen sight of the eagle is recognized by modern savants: "Aquila, genre d"oiseaux de proie... caracterise par un bec sans denlelure et droit a sa base jusquaupres de l"extremite, ou il se corbe beaucoup; par des pieds robustes armes d"ongles aigus et tranchants, par leur rue percante et leur grands envergure" ("Dictionnaire Universelle des Sciences," p. 25).

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Her eyes - Her sight is exceeding sharp and strong, so that she is able to look upon the sun with open eyes, and to behold the smallest prey upon the earth or sea, when she is mounted out of our sight.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Connecting Statement:

Yahweh continues to challenge Job.

he searches for victims

Here the word "he" refers to the eagle.

for victims

"for animals that he can kill and eat"

his eyes see them

Here "his eyes" refer to the eagle. AT: "he sees them" (See: Synecdoche)

His young

"The baby eagles." It may be helpful to state that this happens after the eagle kills and animal. AT: "After an eagle kills an animal, the baby eagles"

drink up blood

"drink the blood of the animal that he killed"

where killed people are

"where there are dead people." This phrase refers to dead bodies that are lying out in the open, not to bodies that are buried in the ground.

there he is

It can be made explicit that he comes to eat the dead bodies. AT: "he is there to eat them" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)

translationWords

blood

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

From there he searches for food He would pray for the needs of the entire year, and after all this honor he saw the death of his two eaglets, Nadab and Abihu, who died so that My name might be sanctified through them, for My fear fell upon those who remained.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.