Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom, and stretch her wings toward the south?
Does the hawk take flight by your understanding and spread his wings toward the south?
By thine understanding flieth a hawk? Spreadeth he his wings to the south?
Doth the hawk fly by thine intelligence, [and] stretch his wings toward the south?
Job — The canonical wisdom-literature interrogation of undeserved suffering. A prose frame enclosing three cycles of dialogue, a late Elihu interrupt, and a whirlwind theophany that does not answer the question — it relativizes it.
Voices3
This is her wisdom, and it was God that gave her this wisdom, not man. Perhaps the extraordinary wisdom of the hawk's flight after her prey was not used then for men's diversion and recreation, as it has been since.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710puritan
God here shows Job what little acquaintance he had with the untamed creatures that run wild in the deserts and live at large, but are the care of the divine Providence. The wild goats and the hinds. That which is taken notice of concerning them is the bringing forth and bringing up of their young ones.
Matthew Henry· Commentary on the Whole Bible, 1710puritan
Fly - So strongly, constantly, unweariedly, and swiftly. South - At the approach of winter, when wild hawks fly into warmer countries, as being impatient of cold. The birds of the air are proofs of the wonderful providence of God, as well as the beasts of the earth.
John Wesley (NT Notes)· Explanatory Notes upon the Bible, 1765evangelical
Rare words are the text's own signal of a deliberate thread — the fewer the occurrences, the more the places it appears belong together.
The verses this one reaches6
Which having no chief, Overseer, or ruler,
And Aaron shall present the bullock of the sin-offering, which is for himself, and shall make atonement for himself, and for his house, and shall kill the bullock of the sin-offering which is for himself.
and the ostrich, and the night-hawk, and the sea-mew, and the hawk after its kind,
Yea, the stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle-dove and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the law of Jehovah.
The flowers appear on the earth; The time of the singing of birds is come, And the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land;
I know all the birds of the mountains; And the wild beasts of the field are mine.
The walk8
Two steps out along the cross-reference floor, votes-ranked — destinations reached by more than one path rise (the text's own hubs). Every stop is a page, and every stop travels with its words.
Through
Jeremiah 8:7Yea, the stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle-dove and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the law of Jehovah.
leads to
The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
Then I said, Surely these are poor; they are foolish; for they know not the way of Jehovah, nor the law of their God:
Go to the ant, thou sluggard; Consider her ways, and be wise:
And the harp and the lute, the tabret and the pipe, and wine, are in their feasts; but they regard not the work of Jehovah, neither have they considered the operation of his hands.
Through
Song of Solomon 2:12The flowers appear on the earth; The time of the singing of birds is come, And the voice of the turtle-dove is heard in our land;
leads to
For ye shall go out with joy, and be led forth with peace: the mountains and the hills shall break forth before you into singing; and all the trees of the fields shall clap…
Yea, the stork in the heavens knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle-dove and the swallow and the crane observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the law of Jehovah.
Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly; in all wisdom teaching and admonishing one another with psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts unto God.
Praise Jehovah from the earth, Ye sea-monsters, and all deeps;
The whole web at once: see the Arc.