God’s Word Translation
Job 40:20
20The hills bring it food, and all the wild animals play there.
Job 40:20 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play.
- New International Version (NIV)The hills bring it their produce, and all the wild animals play nearby.
- English Standard Version (ESV)For the mountains yield food for him where all the wild beasts play.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Surely the mountains yield food for him, And all the beasts of the field play there.
Context of Job 40:20
18Its bones are bronze tubes. They are like iron bars. 19Behemoth is the first of God’s conquests. Its maker approaches it with his sword. The hills bring it food, and all the wild animals play there. 21It lies down under the lotus plants in a hiding place among reeds and swamps. 22Lotus plants provide it with cover. Poplars by the stream surround it.
Read all of Job 40Job 40:20 word by word
כִּֽי־ב֭וּל הָרִ֣ים יִשְׂאוּ־ל֑וֹ וְֽכָל־חַיַּ֥ת הַ֝שָּׂדֶ֗ה יְשַֽׂחֲקוּ־שָֽׁם׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 40:20
- Job 40:15“Look at Behemoth, which I made along with you. It eats grass as cattle do.
- Psalms 147:8He covers the sky with clouds. He provides rain for the ground. He makes grass grow on the mountains.
- Psalms 104:14You make grass grow for cattle and make vegetables for humans to use in order to get food from the ground.
Commentaries on Job 40:20
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 20The mountains bring him forth food - It cannot therefore be the hippopotamus, as he is seldom found far from the rivers where he has his chief residence. Where all the beasts of the field play - He frequents those places where he can have most prey. He makes a mock of all the beasts of the field. They can neither resist his power, nor escape from his agility. All this answers to what we know of the mammoth, but not at all to the hippopotamus.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 20Surely the mountains bring him forth food - That is, though he lies commonly among the reeds and fens, and is in the water a considerable portion of his time, yet he also wanders to the mountains, and finds his food there. But the point of the remark here does not seem to be, that the mountains brought forth food for him, but that he gathered it “while all the wild beasts played around him, or sported in his very presence.” It was remarkable that an…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 15-24Verses 15-24 God, for the further proving of his own power, describes two vast animals, far exceeding man in bulk and strength. Behemoth signifies beasts. Most understand it of an animal well known in Egypt, called the river-horse, or hippopotamus. This vast animal is noticed as an argument to humble ourselves before the great God; for he created this vast animal, which is so fearfully and wonderfully made. Whatever strength this or any other creature…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 15-24After listing natural animals, God described Behemoth and "Leviathan" as creatures humans cannot control (39:1–30; 40:15–24; 41:1–34). Job could not control the wild donkey or ox (39:5–12; 40:15–24). However, God created and could control them, and Job had to accept this fact (41:2). Here, Behemoth appears to be a natural creature: It is an animal God made, just as he made Job (40:15). It is not a fierce predator but eats grass like an ox (40:15). It is…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 15-2415-24. God shows that if Job cannot bring under control the lower animals (of which he selects the two most striking, behemoth on land, leviathan in the water), much less is he capable of governing the world. behemoth--The description in part agrees with the hippopotamus, in part with the elephant, but exactly in all details with neither. It is rather a poetical personification of the great Pachydermata, or Herbivora (so "he eateth grass"), the idea of…Read the comment
Topics related to Job 40:20
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 40
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
Commentaries