Who provides for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry to God, and wander for lack of food?
Parallel Translations
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Who provides for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry to God, and wander for lack of food?
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Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.
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Who provideth for the raven his prey, when his young ones cry unto God, and wander for lack of food?
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Science (1)
Historical claims about the natural world, weighed against the scientific record.
Cross-references (4)
Passages linked to Job 38:41 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Luke 12:24 Consider the ravens: they don’t sow, they don’t reap, they have no warehouse or barn, and God feeds them. How much more valuable are you than birds!
- Psalms 147:9 He provides food for the livestock, and for the young ravens when they call.
- Matthew 6:26 See the birds of the sky, that they don’t sow, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns. Your heavenly Father feeds them. Aren’t you of much more value than they?
- Psalms 104:27-28 These all wait for you, that you may give them their food in due season. You give to them; they gather. You open your hand; they are satisfied with good.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (13 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Job 38:41 Who provideth for the raven his food?…
Job 38:41 Who provideth for the raven his food? when his young ones cry unto God, they wander for lack of meat.
Ver. 41. Who provideth for the raven his food?] Though the raven be a most vile creature, and hated almost of all: in some places there is a reward appointed for those that shall kill them up. Though an unclean creature, and therefore abominable, Lev 11:13; Lev 11:15. Though unmerciful to her own, and pitiless to other birds, though an inauspicate creature, a sign both of man’s punishment and God’s curse, Isa 34:11. Though he crieth with a hoarse and harsh voice (whence also he hath derived the origin of his name), and so unfit to move pity; yet God provideth food for him. What then will he do for his faithful servants? Mat 6:26, where our Saviour fetcheth not an example from the Israelites miraculously fed in the wilderness, or Elijah in the desert, but from fowls of the air; and among them, not from eagles, hawks, nightingales, but ravens, &c. "Consider the ravens," Luk 12:24, Corvus incubat 20 diebus, et pullos nido expellit (Plin. Arist.).
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When his young ones cry to God] Though by implication only they cry, and not directly: being forsaken by the old ones, and left bare, they are fed by God with flies and worms bred in the nest out of their excrements; till, able to fly, and leave the nest, they wander for lack of meat to take it wherever they can meet with it.
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.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Having mentioned the noblest of brute creatures, he now…
Having mentioned the noblest of brute creatures, he now mentions one of the most contemptible and loathsome, to show the care of God’s providence over all creatures, both great and small; which is more remarkable in ravens, because,
1. They devour flesh, which it is not easy for them to find.
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2. They are greedy, and eat very much.
3. They are generally neglected and forsaken by mankind.
4. Their young ones are so soon forsaken by their dams, that if God did not provide for them in a more than ordinary manner, they would be starved to death.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Raven - Having mentioned the noblest of brute creatures,…
Raven - Having mentioned the noblest of brute creatures, he now mentions one of the most contemptible; to shew the care of God's providence over all creatures, both great and small. Their young ones are so soon forsaken by their dams, that if God did not provide for them in a more than ordinary manner, they would be starved to death. And will he that provides for the young ravens, fail to provide for his own children.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 41. Who provideth for the raven] This bird…
Verse 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: -
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"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.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Job 38:41. Who provideth for the raven his food?…
Job 38:41. Who provideth for the raven his food? — Having mentioned the noblest of brute creatures, he now mentions one of the most contemptible; to show the care of God’s providence over all creatures, both great and small. Their young ones are so soon forsaken by their dams, that if God did not provide for them in a more than ordinary manner, they would be starved to death. And will He that provides for the young ravens fail to provide for his own children?
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Who provideth for the raven his food? - The…
Who provideth for the raven his food? - The same thought is expressed in Psa 147:9,
He giveth to the beast his food,
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And to the young ravens which cry.
Compare Mat 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.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Wandering. Sixtus V reads vagientes, (Calmet) "crying like children."…
Wandering. Sixtus V reads vagientes, (Calmet) "crying like children." (Haydock) --- The ravens presently drive their young away to seek for fresh habitations. (Pliny, [Natural History?] x. 12.) (Psalm cxlvi. 9.) (Calmet) --- If God provide for such creatures, He will shew still greater attention to man. (Worthington)
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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain job 38:41Luk 12:24. Transition from the noble lioness to…
job 38:41Luk 12:24. Transition from the noble lioness to the croaking raven. Though man dislikes it, as of ill omen, God cares for it, as for all His creatures.
Next: Job Chapter 39
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 41. They wander for lack of meat — Better,…
41. They wander for lack of meat — Better, (and) wander without food. The question includes the whole verse. “Of the raven,” says Dr. Tristram, (Natural History,) “there are eight species found in Palestine. In no country are the species more numerous in individuals. Of all the birds of Jerusalem the raven tribe are the most characteristic and conspicuous, though the larger species is quite outnumbered by its smaller companion. They are present everywhere to eye and ear, and the odours that float around remind us of their use. The raven is a bird of almost world-wide distribution. It is found from Iceland to Japan.”… In turning to the kingdom of birds we should have expected the mention of their king, the eagle; but instead, it is, as in Luk_12:24, the clamorous raven, with its hoarse croaking, that is singled out. Even this bird, filthy and ceremonially unclean, serves as an emblem of God’s protecting care and goodness. It was an olden belief, as appears in the works of Aristotle, AElian, and Philo, that the raven was cruel to its young, “driving them from the nest and compelling them to fly.” (Pliny.) Even such ugly, raven-ous waifs God takes care of; he hears their hateful cry and gives them food. Psa_147:9. “Do not therefore, O Job, imagine that because I afflict thee, therefore I do not love thee.” — Chrysostom.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 41. The raven. The question extends to the end…
41. The raven. The question extends to the end of the verse,
Who provideth for the raven his food,
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When his young ones cry unto God,
And wander without meat?
The raven is one of the commonest birds in Palestine; by its incessant croaking it presses itself upon the attention, and is often alluded to in Scripture. The cry of its young is an appeal unto God (Joe_1:20), and the feeding of it is proof of His universal providence, which does not overlook even the least of His creatures (Psa_147:9, Luk_12:24). The lion and the raven are here associated perhaps by way of contrast, the one being the most powerful and the other one of the least of God’s creatures. Their natures too are most dissimilar,—the silent, subtle, self-reliance of the one, couching patiently in his lair, and the clamorous outcry and appeal of the other, wandering over the land in search of food. The raven, of course, is a general name, covering the whole Crow tribe.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (41) They wander for lack of meat.—The second clause…
(41) They wander for lack of meat.—The second clause is not a direct statement, but is dependent on the previous one; thus: “When his young ones cry unto God, when they wander for lack of meat.”
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Who provideth for the raven his food?. (comp. Luk_12:24,…
Who provideth for the raven his food?. (comp. Luk_12:24, "Consider the ravens: for they neither sow nor reap; which neither have storehouse nor barn; and God feedeth them God"s mercy is "over all his works," not only over those whereof man sees the utility; but also over beasts of prey, and birds thought to be of ill omen. Especially he cares for the young of each kind, which most need protection. When his young ones cry unto God. So Psa_147:9, "He giveth to the beast his food, and to the young ravens which cry." The young ravens are driven to cry out, when they, i.e. the parent birds, wander for lack of meat, and have a difficulty in finding it.
The raven.
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Job is asked to think of the raven, and consider how it is provided for. Christ answers the question: "Consider the ravens; that they sow not, neither reap; which have no store-chamber nor barn; and God feedeth them: of how much more value are ye than the birds!". (Luk_12:24) But the lessons are not the same in both cases. While Job is to see the greatness of God in providence, Christ directs attention to his care and kindness in providing for his creatures. There are some characteristics of the raven that accentuate the ideas of providential power and kindness.
I ONE OF THE LOWER CREATURES. God is not only concerned with spiritual beings He makes his power felt, and he shows his kindness in the animal world. Nothing is so insignificant as to be beneath his notice. Material wants are thought of and supplied by God. But if he supplies these wants of the lower creatures, much more will he satisfy the deeper hunger of spiritual beings.
II A WILD BIRD. Man cares for his domestic pets, and leaves the wild creatures to shift for themselves. But these animals are not neglected by God. Though building its nest in the depths of the forest or in some remote mountain recess among desolate cliffs and crags, the raven is watched over and cared for by God. Though no meek caged bird, but a free denizen of the wilderness, it is not beyond his control. God cares for his wandering children. Wild races, savage tribes, forgotten peoples, forlorn souls, are all under the notice and care of God.
III A REPULSIVE BIRD. The raven has no gorgeous plumage; there is no music in its croak; it feeds on carrion. Yet God provides for it. God is very wide in his sympathies. We are narrow, partial, selective. While we favour one person and slight another, the large bounty of God is extended to all his creatures. God provides for the insignificant sparrow and the croaking raven. He cares for both insignificant and objectionable men and women. We must remember, however, that the repulsiveness of the raven is not moral. Sin is worse than feeding on carrion. God provides for sinners, sending rain and sunshine alike on the good and on the evil. Nevertheless, his best blessings are reserved for those of his children who know and love him.
IV A NATURAL CREATURE. The raven is a part of nature. It simply follows its unconscious instincts, and in doing so it finds that its wants are provided for. God who implanted instincts satisfies them. We are to follow our whole nature, not the animal part only, but also the spiritual, which in us is as natural as the animal, and more important. Then, just in proportion as we keep to the laws of our being as God has constituted us, shall we find that our real wants are provided for. But if God has given to us reason and conscience, and only instinct to the raven, we must use our higher faculties in obtaining what is needful, just as the raven uses what is highest in its nature. The raven is not fed if it lives idly like the lily, which God still cares for in its own sphere; and man will not be satisfied if he lives only like the raven. Each creature must follow its full nature.
V A PARENT. God implants parental love. When the young ravens cry, God feeds them by leading their parents to food. God uses natural affections for the good of his creatures. He blesses children through their parents. W.F.A.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
Yahweh continues to challenge Job.
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General Information:
Yahweh uses a question to emphasize that he provides food for the ravens and Job does not. (See: Rhetorical Question)
Who provides victims ... for lack of food?
This can be translated as a statement. AT: "Tell me who provides victims ... for lack of food." (See: Rhetorical Question)
provides victims
"provides food." This refers to animals that ravens look for and can eat.
ravens
large birds with shiny black feathers that feed on dead animals
cry out to God
The implied information is that the ravens are crying out for food. AT: "cry to God for help" or "cry out for God to give them food" (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
stagger about
This means to walk around in an unsteady way.
for lack of food
"because they have no food" or "because they have nothing to eat"
translationWords
God
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.