Original Word: עָלַע
Part of Speech: Verb
Transliteration: `ala`
Pronunciation: ah-LAH
Phonetic Spelling: (aw-lah')
KJV: suck up
NASB: suck
Word Origin: [a prim root]

1. to sip up

suck up

A prim root; to sip up -- suck up.

Word Origin
a prim. root
Definition
perhaps to sip up
NASB Translation
suck (1).

[עָלַע] verb assumed as √ of

Pi`el Imperfect3masculine plural יְעַלְע דלִאוּ לַ בֻדָֿ֑ם Job 39:30 they drink (?) blood, but read probably יְלַעְלְעוּ (√ I. לוּעַ) Thes Ol De Me Di and others

Meaning and Imagery

The verb עָלַע describes the swift, voracious “drinking up” or “feasting on” blood. The picture is not casual eating but an eager, almost vacuum-like suction, emphasizing total consumption. Ancient Hebrew used vivid verbs from the natural world to convey moral and theological truth; here the action of predatory birds becomes a window into themes of life, death, and divine oversight.

Setting in Job 39

Job 39 is part of the LORD’s second speech, a catalogue of creatures whose instincts He alone has implanted. Verse 30 concludes the section on the eagle:

“His young ones feast on blood, and where the slain are, there he is.” (Job 39:30)

The single occurrence of עָלַע anchors the stanza. The eaglets’ innate ability to locate carrion and gorge themselves is not a random adaptation; it testifies to the Creator’s meticulous provision—even in the grim arena of death.

Witness to Divine Arrangement in Nature

1. Sustaining the scavengers. Blood, the biblical emblem of life (Leviticus 17:11), becomes sustenance for creatures designed to clean creation’s refuse. By embedding the verb עָלַע in this description, Scripture highlights a paradox: life-blood nourishing life after death.
2. Maintaining ecological balance. Predatory birds reduce disease and accelerate decomposition. The LORD uses their appetite (“feasting on blood”) to preserve land and livestock.
3. Instructing humankind. Job, wrestling with personal suffering, is reminded that God governs even the grisly corners of His world. If fledglings can depend on divine care amid carnage, Job can rest amid calamity.

Symbolism of Blood and Judgment

Blood in Scripture carries a double edge—life preserved by sacrifice, or life forfeited under judgment. Scavenging birds regularly appear in scenes of national catastrophe (Jeremiah 7:33; Ezekiel 39:17-20). The eaglet’s עָלַע therefore foreshadows broader judgments in which God employs nature as His agent. Revelation 19:17-18 climaxes the motif as birds are summoned to “eat the flesh of kings.” The Job passage, while observational, quietly underlines the moral structure of God’s world: violence begets a feast for vultures, and no human strength prevents the appointed reckoning.

Echoes in Later Scripture

• Matthew 24:28—“Wherever the carcass is, there the vultures will gather.” Jesus echoes Job 39:30, reaffirming divine inevitability in judgment history.
• Proverbs 30:17 warns that the ravens of the valley will pluck out the eye of the mocker—a macabre deterrent rooted in the same scavenger imagery.
• Revelation 19:21 again pictures birds gorging on the fallen, linking the beginning and end of Scripture’s storyline: the Almighty remains unchallenged from Job’s day to the consummation.

Practical and Pastoral Applications

1. Assurance amid suffering. Job’s lesson becomes ours: if God attends to carnivorous fledglings, He is present in our darkest valleys (Romans 8:28).
2. Sobriety regarding sin. The relentless gathering of scavengers around slaughtered bodies is a living sermon on wages of rebellion (Romans 6:23).
3. Confidence in evangelism. The same Lord who programs eagles to locate prey equips His servants to “seek and to save the lost” (Luke 19:10). His purposes never fail, whether in nature or in redemption.
4. Stewardship of creation. Recognizing the ecological role of raptors encourages responsible environmental care, valuing every creature’s place in the Creator’s design.

Questions for Further Reflection

• How does the Creator’s use of seemingly brutal processes enlarge our understanding of His wisdom?
• In what ways does the imagery of birds feasting on blood sharpen our perception of both the gravity of judgment and the glory of Christ’s atoning blood?
• How might Job 39:30 inform a theology of suffering that resists simplistic answers yet rests in divine sovereignty?

Summary

Strong’s Hebrew 5966, עָלַע, though appearing only once, conveys a robust theological portrait. The eaglets’ eager consumption of blood in Job 39:30 becomes a living parable of God’s providence, the inevitability of judgment, and the ultimate harmony of creation under His rule. The same verb that shadows death also showcases life sustained by the Creator—drawing the reader to trust the One who oversees every sparrow and every storm.

יְעַלְעוּ־ יעלעו־ yə‘al‘ū- yə·‘al·‘ū- yealuInterlinear Greek • Interlinear Hebrew • Strong's Numbers • Englishman's Greek Concordance • Englishman's Hebrew Concordance • Parallel Texts