Forgetting that a foot may crush them depicts the ostrich failing to think of the danger to her eggs when she is not sitting on them. Forgetting implies that the ostrich once knew but no longer does. Good News Translation is better, with “She is unaware.” A foot may be that of a human or animal, more likely the latter in the desert, as line b shows. In line b it is a wild beast, meaning a “wild animal.” Trample is not a deliberate act. The animal may step on the eggs and crush them as it passes by. Verse 15 may also be translated as “She does not realize that something may crush them or that an animal may step on them.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .