Question: Job 39:13. Can the peacock be meant here? Q.
Answer: The A.V. is far from a correct representation. The peacock seems first known, even to Israel in the days of Solomon, and the name is Indian Hebraized. It is the ostrich which is really in the first clause, contrasted with the stork in the second. “The wing of the ostrich flappeth joyously (or, rejoiceth): but hath she the stork’s pinion and plumage?” This the Revisers considered a figure, in order perhaps to smooth the connection with what follows, and say “are her pinions and feathers kindly” (and in the margin, “like the stork’s”). But assuredly the peacock is not meant here, a bird more striking for its splendid tail when expanded, which does not enter into the description given; whereas the ostrich, unlike the stork for power of flight, runs with the utmost rapidity, and is devoid of that parental fondness which characterizes the stork. The same ancient versions are vague enough.