Lectionary Calendar
Thursday, October 17th, 2024
the Week of Proper 23 / Ordinary 28
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Read the Bible

King James Version

Job 38:41

Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Animals;   Birds;   Blessing;   God;   Thompson Chain Reference - Providence, Divine;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Birds;   Raven, the;  

Dictionaries:

- American Tract Society Bible Dictionary - Providence;   Raven;   Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Miracles;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - God;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Raven;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Birds;   Job, the Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Knowledge;   Nature;   Raven;   World;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Animals;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Raven;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Providence;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Job, Book of;   Raven;   Watson's Biblical & Theological Dictionary - Ravels;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Raven;  

Parallel Translations

New Living Translation
Who provides food for the ravens when their young cry out to God and wander about in hunger?
English Revised Version
Who provideth for the raven his food, when his young ones cry unto God, and wander for lack of meat?
Update Bible Version
Who provides for the raven his prey, When his young ones cry to God, [And] wander for lack of food?
New Century Version
Who gives food to the birds when their young cry out to God and wander about without food?
New English Translation
Who prepares prey for the raven, when its young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?
Webster's Bible Translation
Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry to God, they wander for want of food.
World English Bible
Who provides for the raven his prey, When his young ones cry to God, And wander for lack of food?
Amplified Bible
"Who provides prey for the raven When its young cry to God And wander about without food?
English Standard Version
Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and wander about for lack of food?
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Who makith redi for the crowe his mete, whanne hise briddis crien to God, and wandren aboute, for tho han not meetis?
Berean Standard Bible
Who provides food for the raven when its young cry out to God as they wander about for lack of food?
Contemporary English Version
And when starving young ravens cry out to me for food, do you satisfy their hunger?
American Standard Version
Who provideth for the raven his prey, When his young ones cry unto God, And wander for lack of food?
Bible in Basic English
Who gives in the evening the meat he is searching for, when his young ones are crying to God; when the young lions with loud noise go wandering after their food?
Complete Jewish Bible
Who provides food for the raven when his young cry out to God and wander about for lack of food?
Darby Translation
Who provideth for the raven his food, when his young ones cry unto God, [and] they wander for lack of meat?
Easy-to-Read Version
Who feeds the ravens when their babies cry out to God and wander around without food?
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Who provideth for the raven his prey,
King James Version (1611)
Who prouideth for the rauen his foode? when his young ones cry vnto God, they wander for lacke of meate.
New Life Bible
Who gets the food ready for the raven, when its young cry to God and go about without food?
New Revised Standard
Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God, and wander about for lack of food?
Geneva Bible (1587)
Who prepareth for the rauen his meate, when his birdes crie vnto God, wandering for lacke of meate?
George Lamsa Translation
For its young ones cry to God, and faint for lack of food.
Good News Translation
Who is it that feeds the ravens when they wander about hungry, when their young cry to me for food?
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Who prepareth for the Raven his nourishment, - when his young ones - unto GOD - cry out, when they wander for lack of food?
Douay-Rheims Bible
Who provideth food for the raven, when her young ones cry to God, wandering about, because they have no meat?
Revised Standard Version
Who provides for the raven its prey, when its young ones cry to God, and wander about for lack of food?
Bishop's Bible (1568)
Who prouideth meate for the rauen, when his young ones crye vnto God, and flee about for lacke of meate?
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And who has prepared food for the raven? for its young ones wander and cry to the Lord, in search of food.
Christian Standard Bible®
Who provides the raven’s foodwhen its young cry out to Godand wander about for lack of food?
Hebrew Names Version
Who provides for the raven his prey, When his young ones cry to God, And wander for lack of food?
Lexham English Bible
Who prepares for the crow its prey, when its young ones cry to God for help, and they wander around for lack of food?
Literal Translation
Who provides food for the raven, when its young ones cry to God and wander about without food?
Young's Literal Translation
Who doth prepare for a raven his provision, When his young ones cry unto God? They wander without food.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
who prouydeth meate for the rauen, whe his yonge ones crie vnto God, ad fle aboute for want of meate?
New American Standard Bible
"Who prepares feed for the raven When its young cry to God, And wander about without food?
New King James Version
Who provides food for the raven, When its young ones cry to God, And wander about for lack of food?
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Who prepares for the raven its nourishment When its young cry to God And wander about without food?
Legacy Standard Bible
Who prepares for the raven its provisionWhen its young cry for help to GodAnd wander about without food?

Contextual Overview

25 Who hath divided a watercourse for the overflowing of waters, or a way for the lightning of thunder; 26 To cause it to rain on the earth, where no man is; on the wilderness, wherein there is no man; 27 To satisfy the desolate and waste ground; and to cause the bud of the tender herb to spring forth? 28 Hath the rain a father? or who hath begotten the drops of dew? 29 Out of whose womb came the ice? and the hoary frost of heaven, who hath gendered it? 30 The waters are hid as with a stone, and the face of the deep is frozen. 31 Canst thou bind the sweet influences of Pleiades, or loose the bands of Orion? 32 Canst thou bring forth Mazzaroth in his season? or canst thou guide Arcturus with his sons? 33 Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven? canst thou set the dominion thereof in the earth? 34 Canst thou lift up thy voice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee?

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Psalms 104:27, Psalms 104:28, Psalms 147:9, Matthew 6:26, Luke 12:24

Reciprocal: Genesis 6:21 - General Genesis 8:7 - a raven Genesis 16:11 - hath Leviticus 11:13 - the eagle 1 Kings 17:4 - I have commanded Psalms 50:11 - know Psalms 104:21 - seek Joel 1:20 - cry

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Who provideth for the raven his food?.... Not man, but God; he feeds the ravens, creatures very voracious, mean, and useless,

Luke 12:24;

when his young ones cry unto God; cry for want of food; which is interpreted by the Lord as a cry unto him, and he relieves them,

Psalms 147:9; when deserted by the old ones; either left in their nests through forgetfulness, as some z; or because they are not, till fledged, black like them, as others a; when God feeds them, as some say b, with a kind of dew from heaven, or with flies that fly about them, and fall into their mouths; or with worms bred out of their dung but these things are not to be depended on; it may rather respect them when cast out of the nest by the old ones, when able to fly, which is testified by naturalists c; and with this agrees what follows:

they wander for lack of meat; being obliged to shift for themselves, when God takes care of them; which is an instance of his providential goodness; and how this is to be improved, see Matthew 6:26.

z Plin. apud Servium in Virgil. Georgic. l. 1. p. 189. a Pirke Eliezer, c. 21. b Hieron. in Pasl. cxlvii. 9. c Aristot. Hist. Animal. l. 9. c. 3. Plin. Nat. Hist. l. 10. c. 12.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Who provideth for the raven his food? - The same thought is expressed in Psalms 147:9,

He giveth to the beast his food,

And to the young ravens which cry.

Compare Matthew 6:26. Scbeutzer (in loc.) suggests that the reason why the raven is specified here rather than other fowls is, that it is an offensive bird, and that God means to state that no object, however regarded by man, is beneath his notice. He carefully provides for the needs of all his creatures.

When his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat - Bochart observes that the raven expels the young from the nest as soon as they are able to fly. In this condition, being unable to obtain food by their own exertions, they make a croaking noise, and God is said to hear it, and to supply their needs. “Noyes.” There are various opinions expressed in regard to this subject by the rabbinical writers, and by the ancients generally. Eliezer (cap. 21) says that, “When the old ravens see the young coming into the world which are not black, they regard them as the offspring of serpents, and flee away from them, and God takes care of them.” Solomon says that in this condition they are nourished by the flies and worms that are generated in their nests, and the same opinion was held by the Arabian writers, Haritius, Alkuazin, and Damir. Among the fathers of the church, Chrysostom, Olympiodorus, Gregory, and Isidorus, supposed that they were nurtured by dew descending from heaven.

Pliny (Lib. x. c. 12) says, that the old ravens expel the strongest of their young from the nest, and compel them to fly. This is the time, according to many of the older commentators, when the young ravens are represented as calling upon God for food. See Scheutzer, Physica Sacra, in loc. and Bochart, Hieroz. P. ii. L. ii. c. ii. I do not know that there is now supposed to be sufficient evidence to substantiate this fact in regard to the manner in which the ravens treat their young, and all the circumstances of the place before us will be met by the supposition that young birds seem to call upon God, and that he supplies their needs. The last three verses in this chapter should not have been separated from the following. The appeal in this is to the animal creation, and this is continued through the whole of the next chapter. The proper place for the division would have been at the close of Job 38:38, where the argument from the great laws of the material universe was ended. Then commences an appeal to his works of a higher order - the region of instinct and appetites, where creatures are governed by other than mere physical laws.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 38:41. Who provideth for the raven — This bird is chosen, perhaps, for his voracious appetite, and general hunger for prey, beyond most other fowls. He makes a continual cry, and the cry is that of hunger. He dares not frequent the habitations of men, as he is considered a bird of ill omen, and hated by all.

This verse is finely paraphrased by Dr. YOUNG: -


"Fond man! the vision of a moment made!

Dream of a dream, and shadow of a shade!

What worlds hast thou produced, what creatures framed,

What insects cherish'd, that thy God is blamed?

When pain'd with hunger, the wild raven's brood

Calls upon God, importunate for food,

Who hears their cry ? Who grants their hoarse request,

And stills the glamours of the craving nest?"


On which he has this note: - "The reason given why the raven is particularly mentioned as the care of Providence is, because by her clamorous and importunate voice she particularly seems always calling upon it; thence κορασσω, α κοραξ, is to ask earnestly. - AElian. lib. ii., c. 48. And since there were ravens on the banks of the Nile, more clamorous than the rest of that species, those probably are meant in this place."

THE commencement of Cicero's oration against Catiline, to which I have referred on Job 38:3, is the following: -

Quousque tandem abutere, Catilina, patientia nostra? Quamdiu etiam furor iste tuus nos eludet? Quem ad finem sese effrenata jactabit audacia? Nihilne te nocturnum praesidium palatii-nihil urbis vigiliae, - nihil timor popuii, - nihii concursus bonorum omnium, - nihil hic munitissimus habendi senatus locus-nihil horum ora, vultusque moverunt? Patere tua consilia nan sentis? Constrictam jam omnium horum conscientia teneri conjurationem tuam non vides? Quid proxima, quid superiore nocte egeris,-ubi fueris, quos convocaveris, - quid consilii ceperis, quem nostrum ignorare arbitraris? O tempora! O mores! Senatus haec intelligit, - consul videt; hic tamen vivit! Vivit? immo vero eitam in senatum venit; fit publici consilii particeps; notat et designat oculis ad caedem unumquemque nostrum! Nos autem, viri fortes, satisfacere reipublicae videmur, si istius furorem ac tela vitemus!

"How long wilt thou, O Catiline, abuse our patience? How long shall thy madness out-brave our justice? To what extremities art thou resolved to push thy unbridled insolence of guilt? Canst thou behold the nocturnal arms that watch the palatium, - the guards of the city, - the consternation of the citizens, - all the wise and worthy clustering into consultation, - the impregnable situation of the seat of the senate, - and the reproachful looks of the fathers of Rome? Canst thou behold all this, and yet remain undaunted and unabashed? Art thou insensible that thy measures are detected? Art thou insensible that this senate, now thoroughly informed, comprehend the whole extent of thy guilt? Show me the senator ignorant of thy practices during the last and preceding night, of the place where you met, the company you summoned, and the crime you concerted. The senate is conscious, - the consul is witness to all this; yet, O how mean and degenerate! the traitor lives! Lives? he mixes with the senate; he shares in our counsels; with a steady eye he surveys us; he anticipates his guilt; he enjoys the murderous thought, and coolly marks us to bleed! Yet we, boldly passive in our country's cause, think we act like Romans, if we can escape his frantic rage!"

The reader will perceive how finely Cicero rushes into this invective, as if the danger had been too immediate to give him leisure for the formality of address and introduction. See Guthrie's Orations of Cicero.

Here is eloquence! Here is nature! And in thus speaking her language, the true orator pierces with his lightnings the deepest recesses of the heart. The success of this species of oratory is infallible in the pulpit, when the preacher understands how to manage it.


 
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