Job 39
1 Do thou know the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? Or can thou mark when the hinds do calve?
“[Job], do you know at what time/season [of the year] the female mountain goats give birth? Have you watched the wild deer while their fawns were being born?
2 Can thou number the months that they fulfill? Or do thou know the time when they bring forth?
Do you know how many months pass from the time they become pregnant until their fawns are born?
3 They bow themselves. They bring forth their young. They cast out their pains.
[When they give birth, ] they crouch down so that the fawns do not [get hurt by] falling to the ground when they are born.
4 Their young ones become strong. They grow up in the open field. They go forth, and return not again.
The young fawns grow up in the open fields, and then they leave their mothers and do not return to them again.
5 Who has sent out the wild donkey free? Or who has loosed the bonds of the swift donkey
“Who allows the wild donkeys to go wherever they want [DOU]?
6 whose home I have made the wilderness, and the salt land his dwelling-place?
I am the one who put them in the desert, in places where grass does not grow.
7 He scorns the tumult of the city, neither does he hear the shoutings of the driver.
They do not like the noise in the cities; [in the desert] they do not have to listen to the shouts of those who force donkeys to work.
8 The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searches after every green thing.
They go to the hills to find food; there they search for grass to eat.
9 Will the wild-ox be content to serve thee? Or will he abide by thy crib?
:Will a wild ox agree to work for you? Will it allow you to keep it penned up at night in the place where you put feed for your animals?
10 Can thou bind the wild-ox with his band in the furrow? Or will he harrow the valleys after thee?
And can you fasten it with a rope so that it will plow furrows/trenches in your fields?
11 Will thou trust him because his strength is great? Or will thou leave to him thy labor?
Since it is very strong, can you trust it to work for you? Can you go away after you tell it what work it should do [and assume that it will do that work]?
12 Will thou confide in him that he will bring home thy seed, and gather the grain of thy threshing-floor?
Can you rely on it to come back [from the field], bringing your grain to the place where you thresh it?
13 The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the pinions and plumage of love?
“[Think also about] the ostriches. [They] joyfully flap their wings, but they do not have wing feathers [that enable them to fly] like storks do.
14 For she leaves her eggs on the ground, and warms them in the dust.
Ostriches lay their eggs on top of the ground [and then walk away], leaving the eggs to be warmed in the sand.
15 And she forgets that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may trample them.
Ostriches do not worry that some wild animal may step on the eggs and crush them [DOU].
16 She deals hardly with her young ones, as if they were not hers. Though her labor be in vain, she is without fear,
Ostriches act cruelly towards their chicks; they act as though the chicks belonged to some other ostrich. They are not concerned if [their chicks die], [and so] the laying of the eggs was in vain.
17 because God has deprived her of wisdom, nor has he imparted understanding to her.
That is because I did not allow ostriches to be wise. I did not enable them to be intelligent.
18 The time she lifts up herself on high she scorns the horse and his rider.
But, when they get up and begin to run, they scornfully laugh at horses with their riders [because the horses cannot run as fast as the ostriches!]
19 Have thou given the horse his might? Have thou clothed his neck with the quivering mane?
And [think about] horses. [Job], are you the one who caused horses to be strong? Are you the one who put flowing (manes/long hair) on their necks?
20 Have thou made him to leap as a locust? The glory of his snorting is awesome.
Are you the one who enabled them to leap forward like locusts? When they (snort/blow loudly through their noses), they cause people to be afraid.
21 He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength. He goes out to meet the armed men.
They paw the ground, rejoicing about being very strong, as they prepare to rush into a battle.
22 He mocks at fear, and is not dismayed. Neither does he turn back from the sword.
[It is as if] they laugh at the thought of being afraid. They are not afraid of anything! They do not run away when [the soldiers in the battle are fighting each other with] swords.
23 The quiver rattles against him, the flashing spear and the javelin.
The quivers containing the riders’ arrows rattle against the horses’ sides, and the spears and javelins flash [in the light of the sun].
24 He swallows the ground with fierceness and rage, nor does he believe that it is the voice of the trumpet.
The horses paw the ground fiercely/excitedly, [wanting the battle to begin, ] and they rush into the battle when the trumpet is blown.
25 As often as the trumpet sounds he says, Aha! And he smells the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
They neigh [joyfully] when they hear someone blowing the trumpet. They can smell a battle even when they are far away, and they understand what it means when the commanders shout their commands [to their soldiers].
26 Is it by thy wisdom that the hawk soars, and stretches her wings toward the south?
“[And think about big birds.] Are you the one who enabled hawks to spread their wings and fly to the south [for the winter]?
27 Is it at thy command that the eagle mounts up, and makes her nest on high?
Do eagles fly high up [into the cliffs] to make their nests because you commanded them to do that?
28 She dwells on the cliff, and makes her home upon the point of the cliff and the stronghold.
They live in [holes in] those cliffs. They are safe in those high pointed rocks [because no animals can reach them there].
29 From there she spies out the prey. Her eyes behold it afar off.
As they watch carefully from there, they see far away the animals that they can kill (OR, dead bodies of animals).
30 Her young ones also suck up blood. And where the slain are, there is she.
After an eagle kills an animal, the baby eagles drink the blood of that animal.”
