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?
[Say] if thou knowest the time of the bringing forth of the wild goats of the rock, and [if] thou hast marked the calving of the hinds:
2 Have you numbered the months since their conception, and do you know at what time they gave birth?
and [if] thou has hast numbered the full months of their being with young, and [if] thou hast relieved their pangs:
3 They bend themselves for their offspring, and they give birth, and they emit roars.
and hast reared their young without fear; and wilt thou loosen their pangs?
4 Their young are weaned and go out to feed; they depart and do not return to them.
Their young will break forth; they will be multiplied with offspring: [their young] will go forth, and will not return to them.
5 Who has set the wild ass free, and who has released his bonds?
And who is he that sent forth the wild ass free? and who loosed his bands?
6 I have given a house in solitude to him, and his tabernacle is in the salted land.
whereas I made his habitation the wilderness, and the salt land his coverts.
7 He despises the crowded city; he does not pay attention to the bellow of the tax collector.
He laughs to scorn the multitude of the city, and hears not the chiding of the tax-gatherer.
8 He looks around the mountains of his pasture, and he searches everywhere for green plants.
He will survey the mountains [as] his pasture, and he seeks after every green thing.
9 Will the rhinoceros be willing to serve you, and will he remain in your stall?
And will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or to lie down at thy manger?
10 Can you detain the rhinoceros with your harness to plough for you, and will he loosen the soil of the furrows behind you?
And wilt thou bind his yoke with thongs, or will he plough furrows for thee in the plain?
11 Will you put your faith in his great strength, and delegate your labors to him?
And dost thou trust him, because his strength is great? and wilt thou commit thy works to him?
12 Will you trust him to return to you the seed, and to gather it on your drying floor?
And wilt thou believe that he will return to thee thy seed, and bring [it] in [to] thy threshing-floor?
13 The wing of the ostrich is like the wings of the heron, and of the hawk.
The peacock has a beautiful wing: if the stork and the ostrich conceive, [it is worthy of notice],
14 When she leaves eggs behind in the earth, will you perhaps warm them in the dust?
for [the ostrich] will leave her eggs in the ground, and warm them on the dust,
15 She forgets that feet may trample them, or that the beasts of the field may shatter them.
and has forgotten that the foot will scatter them, and the wild beasts of the field trample them.
16 She is hardened against her young, as if they were not hers; she has labored in vain, with no fear compelling her.
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; neither has he given her understanding.
For God has withholden wisdom from her, and not given her a portion in understanding.
18 Yet, when the time is right, she raises her wings on high; she ridicules the horse and his rider.
In her season she will lift herself on high; she will scorn the horse and his rider.
19 Will you supply strength to the horse, or envelope his throat with neighing?
Hast thou invested the horse with strength, and clothed his neck with terror?
20 Will you alarm him as the locusts do? His panic is revealed by the display of his nostrils.
And hast thou clad him in perfect armour, and made his breast glorious with courage?
21 He digs at the earth with his hoof; he jumps around boldly; he advances to meet armed men.
He paws exulting in the plain, and goes forth in strength into the plain.
22 He despises fear; he does not turn away from the sword.
He laughs to scorn a king as he meets him, and will by no means turn back from the sword.
23 Above him, the quiver rattles, the spear and the shield shake.
The bow and sword resound against him; and [his] rage will swallow up the ground:
24 Seething and raging, he drinks up the earth; neither does he pause when the blast of the trumpet sounds.
and he will not believe until the trumpet sounds.
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.
And when the trumpet sounds, he says, Aha! and afar off he smells the war with prancing and neighing.
26 Does the hawk grow feathers by means of your wisdom, spreading her wings towards the south?
And does the hawk remain steady by thy wisdom, having spread out her wings unmoved, looking toward the region of the south?
27 Will the eagle lift herself up at your command and make her nest in steep places?
And does the eagle rise at thy command, and the vulture remain sitting over his nest,
28 She dwells among the rocks, and she lingers among broken boulders and inaccessible cliffs.
on a crag of a rock, and in a secret [place]?
29 From there, she looks for food, and her eyes catch sight of it from far away.
Thence he seeks food, his eyes observe from far.
30 Her young will drink blood, and wherever the carcass will be, she is there immediately.
And his young ones roll themselves in blood, and wherever the carcasses may be, immediately they are found.
