Job 39
1 [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:
Have you knowledge of the rock-goats? or do you see the roes giving birth to their young?
2 and [if] you has have numbered the full months of their being with young, and [if] you have relieved their pangs:
Is the number of their months fixed by you? or is the time when they give birth ordered by you?
3 and have reared their young without fear; and will you loosen their pangs?
They are bent down, they give birth to their young, they let loose the fruit of their body.
4 Their young will break forth; they will be multiplied with offspring: [their young] will go forth, and will not return to them.
Their young ones are strong, living in the open country; they go out and do not come back again.
5 And who is he that sent forth the wild ass free? and who loosed his bands?
Who has let the ass of the fields go free? or made loose the bands of the loud-voiced beast?
6 whereas I made his habitation the wilderness, and the salt land his coverts.
To whom I have given the waste land for a heritage, and the salt land as a living-place.
7 He laughs to scorn the multitude of the city, and hears not the chiding of the tax-gatherer.
He makes sport of the noise of the town; the voice of the driver does not come to his ears;
8 He will survey the mountains [as] his pasture, and he seeks after every green thing.
He goes looking for his grass-lands in the mountains, searching out every green thing.
9 And will the unicorn be willing to serve you, or to lie down at your manger?
Will the ox of the mountains be your servant? or is his night's resting-place by your food-store?
10 And will you bind his yoke with thongs, or will he plough furrows for you in the plain?
Will he be pulling your plough with cords, turning up the valleys after you?
11 And do you trust him, because his strength is great? and will you commit your works to him?
Will you put your faith in him, because his strength is great? will you give the fruit of your work into his care?
12 And will you believe that he will return to you your seed, and bring [it] in [to] your threshing floor?
Will you be looking for him to come back, and get in your seed to the crushing-floor?
13 The peacock has a beautiful wing: if the stork and the ostrich conceive, [it is worthy of notice],
Is the wing of the ostrich feeble, or is it because she has no feathers,
14 for [the ostrich] will leave her eggs in the ground, and warm them on the dust,
That she puts her eggs on the earth, warming them in the dust,
15 and has forgotten that the foot will scatter them, and the wild beasts of the field trample them.
Without a thought that they may be crushed by the foot, and broken by the beasts of the field?
16 She has hardened [herself] against her young ones, as though [she bereaved] not herself: she labours in vain without fear.
She is cruel to her young ones, as if they were not hers; her work is to no purpose; she has no fear.
17 For God has withholden wisdom from her, and not given her a portion in understanding.
For God has taken wisdom from her mind, and given her no measure of knowledge.
18 In her season she will lift herself on high; she will scorn the horse and his rider.
When she is shaking her wings on high, she makes sport of the horse and of him who is seated on him.
19 Hast you invested the horse with strength, and clothed his neck with terror?
Do you give strength to the horse? is it by your hand that his neck is clothed with power?
20 And have you clad him in perfect armour, and made his breast glorious with courage?
Is it through you that he is shaking like a locust, in the pride of his loud-sounding breath?
21 He paws exulting in the plain, and goes forth in strength into the plain.
He is stamping with joy in the valley; he makes sport of fear.
22 He laughs to scorn a king as he meets him, and will by no means turn back from the sword.
In his strength he goes out against the arms of war, turning not away from the sword.
23 The bow and sword resound against him; and [his] rage will swallow up the ground:
The bow is sounding against him; he sees the shining point of spear and arrow.
24 and he will not believe until the trumpet sounds.
Shaking with passion, he is biting the earth; he is not able to keep quiet at the sound of the horn;
25 And when the trumpet sounds, he says, Aha! and afar off he smells the war with prancing and neighing.
When it comes to his ears he says, Aha! He is smelling the fight from far off, and hearing the thunder of the captains, and the war-cries.
26 And does the hawk remain steady by your wisdom, having spread out her wings unmoved, looking towards the region of the south?
Is it through your knowledge that the hawk takes his flight, stretching out his wings to the south?
27 And does the eagle rise at your command, and the vulture remain sitting over his nest,
Or is it by your orders that the eagle goes up, and makes his resting-place on high?
28 on a crag of a rock, and in a secret [place]?
On the rock is his house, and on the mountain-top his strong place.
29 Thence he seeks food, his eyes observe from far.
From there he is watching for food; his eye sees it far off.
30 And his young ones roll themselves in blood, and wherever the carcasses may be, immediately they are found.
His young have blood for their drink, and where the dead bodies are, there is he to be seen.
