Job 39
1 “Do you know when mountain goats give birth? Have you watched the doe bear her fawn?
[Say] if you know the time of the bringing forth of the wild goats of the rock, and [if] you have marked the calving of the hinds:
2 Can you count the months they are pregnant? Do you know the time they give birth?
and [if] you has have numbered the full months of their being with young, and [if] you have relieved their pangs:
3 They crouch down and bring forth their young; they deliver their newborn.
and have reared their young without fear; and will you loosen their pangs?
4 Their young ones thrive and grow up in the open field; they leave and do not return.
Their young will break forth; they will be multiplied with offspring: [their young] will go forth, and will not return to them.
5 Who set the wild donkey free? Who released the swift donkey from the harness?
And who is he that sent forth the wild ass free? and who loosed his bands?
6 I made the wilderness his home and the salt flats his dwelling.
whereas I made his habitation the wilderness, and the salt land his coverts.
7 He scorns the tumult of the city and never hears the shouts of a driver.
He laughs to scorn the multitude of the city, and hears not the chiding of the tax-gatherer.
8 He roams the mountains for pasture, searching for any green thing.
He will survey the mountains [as] his pasture, and he seeks after every green thing.
9 Will the wild ox consent to serve you? Will he stay by your manger at night?
And will the unicorn be willing to serve you, or to lie down at your manger?
10 Can you hold him to the furrow with a harness? Will he plow the valleys behind you?
And will you bind his yoke with thongs, or will he plough furrows for you in the plain?
11 Can you rely on his great strength? Will you leave your hard work to him?
And do you trust him, because his strength is great? and will you commit your works to him?
12 Can you trust him to bring in your grain and gather it to your threshing floor?
And will you believe that he will return to you your seed, and bring [it] in [to] your threshing floor?
13 The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, but cannot match the pinions and feathers of the stork.
The peacock has a beautiful wing: if the stork and the ostrich conceive, [it is worthy of notice],
14 For she leaves her eggs on the ground and lets them warm in the sand.
for [the ostrich] will leave her eggs in the ground, and warm them on the dust,
15 She forgets that a foot may crush them, or a wild animal may trample them.
and has forgotten that the foot will scatter them, and the wild beasts of the field trample them.
16 She treats her young harshly, as if not her own, with no concern that her labor was in vain.
She has hardened [herself] against her young ones, as though [she bereaved] not herself: she labours in vain without fear.
17 For God has deprived her of wisdom; He has not endowed her with understanding.
For God has withholden wisdom from her, and not given her a portion in understanding.
18 Yet when she proudly spreads her wings, she laughs at the horse and its rider.
In her season she will lift herself on high; she will scorn the horse and his rider.
19 Do you give strength to the horse or adorn his neck with a mane?
Hast you invested the horse with strength, and clothed his neck with terror?
20 Do you make him leap like a locust, striking terror with his proud snorting?
And have you clad him in perfect armour, and made his breast glorious with courage?
21 He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength; he charges into battle.
He paws exulting in the plain, and goes forth in strength into the plain.
22 He laughs at fear, frightened of nothing; he does not turn back from the sword.
He laughs to scorn a king as he meets him, and will by no means turn back from the sword.
23 A quiver rattles at his side, along with a flashing spear and lance.
The bow and sword resound against him; and [his] rage will swallow up the ground:
24 Trembling with excitement, he devours the distance; he cannot stand still when the ram’s horn sounds.
and he will not believe until the trumpet sounds.
25 At the blast of the horn, he snorts with fervor. He catches the scent of battle from afar— the shouts of captains and the cry of war.
And when the trumpet sounds, he says, Aha! and afar off he smells the war with prancing and neighing.
26 Does the hawk take flight by your understanding and spread his wings toward the south?
And does the hawk remain steady by your wisdom, having spread out her wings unmoved, looking towards the region of the south?
27 Does the eagle soar at your command and make his nest on high?
And does the eagle rise at your command, and the vulture remain sitting over his nest,
28 He dwells on a cliff and lodges there; his stronghold is on a rocky crag.
on a crag of a rock, and in a secret [place]?
29 From there he spies out food; his eyes see it from afar.
Thence he seeks food, his eyes observe from far.
30 His young ones feast on blood; and where the slain are, there he is.”
And his young ones roll themselves in blood, and wherever the carcasses may be, immediately they are found.
