Job 39
1 Do you know at what time the wild goats have given birth among the rocks, or do you observe the deer when they go into labor?
Have you knowledge of the rock-goats? or do you see the roes giving birth to their young?
2 Have you numbered the months since their conception, and do you know at what time they gave birth?
Is the number of their months fixed by you? or is the time when they give birth ordered by you?
3 They bend themselves for their offspring, and they give birth, and they emit roars.
They are bent down, they give birth to their young, they let loose the fruit of their body.
4 Their young are weaned and go out to feed; they depart and do not return to them.
Their young ones are strong, living in the open country; they go out and do not come back again.
5 Who has set the wild ass free, and who has released his bonds?
Who has let the ass of the fields go free? or made loose the bands of the loud-voiced beast?
6 I have given a house in solitude to him, and his tabernacle is in the salted land.
To whom I have given the waste land for a heritage, and the salt land as a living-place.
7 He despises the crowded city; he does not pay attention to the bellow of the tax collector.
He makes sport of the noise of the town; the voice of the driver does not come to his ears;
8 He looks around the mountains of his pasture, and he searches everywhere for green plants.
He goes looking for his grass-lands in the mountains, searching out every green thing.
9 Will the rhinoceros be willing to serve you, and will he remain in your stall?
Will the ox of the mountains be your servant? or is his night's resting-place by your food-store?
10 Can you detain the rhinoceros with your harness to plough for you, and will he loosen the soil of the furrows behind you?
Will he be pulling your plough with cords, turning up the valleys after you?
11 Will you put your faith in his great strength, and delegate your labors 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 Will you trust him to return to you the seed, and to gather it on your drying floor?
Will you be looking for him to come back, and get in your seed to the crushing-floor?
13 The wing of the ostrich is like the wings of the heron, and of the hawk.
Is the wing of the ostrich feeble, or is it because she has no feathers,
14 When she leaves eggs behind in the earth, will you perhaps warm them in the dust?
That she puts her eggs on the earth, warming them in the dust,
15 She forgets that feet may trample them, or that the beasts of the field may shatter them.
Without a thought that they may be crushed by the foot, and broken by the beasts of the field?
16 She is hardened against her young, as if they were not hers; she has labored in vain, with no fear compelling her.
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 deprived her of wisdom; neither has he given her understanding.
For God has taken wisdom from her mind, and given her no measure of knowledge.
18 Yet, when the time is right, she raises her wings on high; she ridicules 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 Will you supply strength to the horse, or envelope his throat with neighing?
Do you give strength to the horse? is it by your hand that his neck is clothed with power?
20 Will you alarm him as the locusts do? His panic is revealed by the display of his nostrils.
Is it through you that he is shaking like a locust, in the pride of his loud-sounding breath?
21 He digs at the earth with his hoof; he jumps around boldly; he advances to meet armed men.
He is stamping with joy in the valley; he makes sport of fear.
22 He despises fear; he does not turn away from the sword.
In his strength he goes out against the arms of war, turning not away from the sword.
23 Above him, the quiver rattles, the spear and the shield shake.
The bow is sounding against him; he sees the shining point of spear and arrow.
24 Seething and raging, he drinks up the earth; neither does he pause when the blast of 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 When he hears the bugle, he says, “Ha!” He smells the battle from a distance, the exhortation of the officers, and the battle cry of the soldiers.
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 Does the hawk grow feathers by means of your wisdom, spreading her wings towards the south?
Is it through your knowledge that the hawk takes his flight, stretching out his wings to the south?
27 Will the eagle lift herself up at your command and make her nest in steep places?
Or is it by your orders that the eagle goes up, and makes his resting-place on high?
28 She dwells among the rocks, and she lingers among broken boulders and inaccessible cliffs.
On the rock is his house, and on the mountain-top his strong place.
29 From there, she looks for food, and her eyes catch sight of it from far away.
From there he is watching for food; his eye sees it far off.
30 Her young will drink blood, and wherever the carcass will be, she is there immediately.
His young have blood for their drink, and where the dead bodies are, there is he to be seen.
