Job 39:23 - Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Bible Comments

The quiver; or although the quiver &c. So this comes in as an aggravation of his courage, notwithstanding the just causes of fear which are mentioned in this verse. And the quiver is here put for the arrows contained in it, by a metonymy, very usual in this very case, and in all sorts of authors, which being shot against the horse and rider, make this rattling noise here mentioned. The glittering spear and the shield; or rather, the lance or javelin. For that this was not a defensive, but an offensive weapon, seems plain, both from this place, where it is mentioned among such, and as an object of fear, which the shield is not, and from Joshua 8:18 1 Samuel 17:45, where it is so used.

Job 39:23

23 The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear and the shield.