Job 39:16

“She is hardened against her young ones, as though [they were] not hers, etc.] Hence said to be cruel, (<250403>Lamentations 4:3); not against the young ones she hatches, for Aelianus f1392 reports her as very tender of her young, and exposing herself to danger for the preservation of them; but being a very forgetful creature, having laid its eggs in the sand, where it leaves them, forgets where it has laid them; and finding other eggs sits on them and hatches them, and regards the young as its own, and is hardened against its true and real young, as not belonging to her; her labour is in vain without fear; in laying her eggs and leaving them in the dust, without fear of their being crushed…”

“On a slight noise she often forsakes her eggs, and returns not, as if she were "hardened towards her young." her labour--in producing eggs, is in vain, (yet) she has not disquietude (about her young), unlike other birds, who, if one egg and another are taken away, will go on laying till their full number is made up.”

“She is hardened against her young ones - The obvious meaning of this passage, which is a fair translation of the Hebrew, is, that the ostrich is destitute of natural affection for her young; or that she treats them as if she had not the usual natural affection manifested in the animal creation. This sentiment also occurs in Lamentations 4:3, “The daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.” This opinion is controverted by Buffon, but seems fully sustained by those who have most attentively observed the habits of the ostrich. Dr. Shaw, as quoted by Paxton, and in Robinson’s Calmet, says, “On the least noise or trivial occasion she forsakes her eggs or her…”

“Her labour - In laying her eggs is in vain, because she hath not the fear and tender concern for them, which she should have. Job 39:17”

“hardened: Lam 4:3 as: Deu 28:56, Deu 28:57; Kg1 3:26, Kg1 3:27; Kg2 6:28, Kg2 6:29; Lam 2:20; Rom 1:31 her labour: Ecc 10:15; Hab 2:13 Job 39:17”