Job 39:10

Contemporary English Version

Could you force him to plow or to drag a heavy log to smooth out the soil?

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Can you hold the wild ox to a furrow by its harness?Will it plow the valleys behind you?

Hebrew Names Version
Can you hold the wild ox in the furrow with his harness? Or will he till the valleys after you?

King James Version
Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee?

English Standard Version
Can you bind him in the furrow with ropes, or will he harrow the valleys after you?

New Century Version
Can you hold it to the plowed row with a harness so it will plow the valleys for you?

New English Translation
Can you bind the wild ox to a furrow with its rope, will it till the valleys, following after you?

Amplified Bible
"Can you bind the wild ox with a harness [to the plow] in the furrow? Or will he plow the valleys for you?

New American Standard Bible
"Can you tie down the wild bull in a furrow with ropes, Or will he plow the valleys after you?

World English Bible
Can you hold the wild ox in the furrow with his harness? Or will he till the valleys after you?

Geneva Bible (1587)
Canst thou binde the vnicorne with his band to labour in the furrowe? or will he plowe the valleyes after thee?

Legacy Standard Bible
Can you bind the wild ox in a furrow with ropes,Or will he harrow the valleys after you?

Berean Standard Bible
Can you hold him to the furrow with a harness? Will he plow the valleys behind you?

Complete Jewish Bible
Could you tie a rope around its neck and make it plow furrows for you?

Darby Translation
Canst thou bind the buffalo with his cord in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee?

Easy-to-Read Version
Will he let you put ropes on him to plow your fields?

George Lamsa Translation
Can you bind the yoke on the neck of the unicorn? Or will he harrow in a rugged place?

Good News Translation
Can you hold one with a rope and make him plow? Or make him pull a harrow in your fields?

Lexham English Bible
Can you tie the wild ox with its rope to a furrow, or will it harrow the valleys after you?

Literal Translation
Can you tie the wild ox in the furrow with his rope? Or will he harrow the valleys for you?

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Cast thou bynde ye yock aboute him in thy forowes, to make him plowe after the in ye valleis?

American Standard Version
Canst thou bind the wild-ox with his band in the furrow? Or will he harrow the valleys after thee?

Bible in Basic English
Will he be pulling your plough with cords, turning up the valleys after you?

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Canst thou bind the wild-ox with his band in the furrow? Or will he harrow the valleys after thee?

King James Version (1611)
Canst thou binde the Unicorne with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleyes after thee?

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Canst thou binde the yoke about the vnicorne in the forowe, to make him plowe after thee in the valleyes?

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And wilt thou bind his yoke with thongs, or will he plough furrows for thee in the plain?

English Revised Version
Canst thou bind the wild-ox with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee?

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Whether thou schalt bynde the vnicorn with thi chayne, for to ere, ethir schal he breke the clottis of valeis aftir thee?

Update Bible Version
Can you bind the wild-ox with his band in the furrow? Or will he harrow the valleys after you?

Webster's Bible Translation
Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee?

New King James Version
Can you bind the wild ox in the furrow with ropes? Or will he plow the valleys behind you?

New Living Translation
Can you hitch a wild ox to a plow? Will it plow a field for you?

New Life Bible
Can you tie the wild ox to a plow in the field? Will he follow you to plow the valleys?

New Revised Standard
Can you tie it in the furrow with ropes, or will it harrow the valleys after you?

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Canst thou bind the wild-ox, so that - with the ridge - shall run his cord? Or will he harrow the furrows after thee?

Douay-Rheims Bible
Canst thou bind the rhinoceros with thy thong to plough, or will he break the clods of the valleys after thee?

Revised Standard Version
Can you bind him in the furrow with ropes, or will he harrow the valleys after you?

Young's Literal Translation
Dost thou bind a Reem in a furrow [with] his thick band? Doth he harrow valleys after thee?

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Can you bind the wild ox in a furrow with ropes, Or will he harrow the valleys after you?

Contextual Overview

¹ The Lord Continues When do mountain goats and deer give birth? Have you been there when their young are born? ² How long are they pregnant ³ before they deliver? ⁴ Soon their young grow strong and then leave to be on their own. ⁵ Who set wild donkeys free? ⁶ I alone help them survive in salty desert sand. ⁷ They stay far from crowded cities and refuse to be tamed. ⁸ Instead, they roam the hills, searching for pastureland. ⁹ Would a wild ox agree to live in your barn and labor for you? ¹⁰ Could you force him to plow or to drag a heavy log to smooth out the soil?

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Job 39:5, Job 39:7, Job 1:14, Job 41:5, Psalms 129:3, Hosea 10:10, Hosea 10:11, Micah 1:13

Reciprocal: Numbers 23:22 - the strength Deuteronomy 33:17 - his horns Psalms 22:21 - horns Isaiah 34:7 - unicorns

Cross-References

Genesis 39:8
but he refused and said, "My master isn't worried about anything in his house, because he has placed me in charge of everything he owns.

Proverbs 1:15
Don't follow anyone like that or do what they do.

Proverbs 2:16
Wisdom will protect you from the smooth talk of a sinful woman,

Proverbs 5:3
The words of an immoral woman may be as sweet as honey and as smooth as olive oil.

Proverbs 5:8
Stay away from a bad woman! Don't even go near the door of her house.

Proverbs 7:5
They will protect you from the flattering words of someone else's wife.

Proverbs 7:13
She grabbed him and kissed him, and with no sense of shame, she said:

Proverbs 9:14
She sits in front of her house and on the highest hills in the town.

Proverbs 9:16
"If you are stupid, come on inside!" And to every fool she says,

Proverbs 22:14
The words of a bad woman are like a deep pit; if you make the Lord angry, you will fall right in.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow?.... Put the yoke and harness upon him, and fasten it to the plough to draw it, that he may make furrows with it in the field, or plough up the ground as the tame ox does? thou canst not;

or will he harrow the valleys after thee? draw the harrow which is used after ploughing to break the clods, and make the land smooth and even? he will not: valleys are particularly mentioned, because arable land is usually in them; see Psalms 65:13.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? - That is, with the common traces or cords which are employed in binding oxen to the plow.

Or will he harrow the valleys after thee? - The word “valleys” here is used to denote such ground as was capable of being plowed or harrowed. Hills and mountains could not thus be cultivated, though the spade was in common use in planting the vine there, and even in preparing them for seed, Isaiah 7:25. The phrase “after thee” indicates that the custom of driving cattle in harrowing then was the same as that practiced now with oxen, when the person who employs them goes in advance of them. It shows that they were entirely under subjection, and it is here implied that the ראם r^e'êm could not be thus tamed.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 39:10. Canst thou bind the unicorn - in the furrow? — He will not plough, nor draw in the yoke with another? nor canst thou use him singly, to harrow the ground.