Job 39
1 Do you know when the wild goats give birth? Have you watched the birth-pains of the deer?
Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? dost thou mark the calving of the hinds?
2 Do you know how many months they carry their young? Do you know the time when they give birth?
Dost thou number the months that they fulfil? and knowest thou the time when they bring forth?
3 They crouch down in labor to deliver their offspring.
They bow themselves, they give birth to their young ones, they cast out their pains;
4 Their young grow strong in the open countryside; they leave and never return.
Their young ones become strong, they grow up in the open field, they go forth, and return not unto them.
5 Who gave the wild donkey its freedom? Who set it free from its bonds?
Who hath sent out the wild ass free? and who hath loosed the bands of the onager,
6 I have given it the wilderness as its home, the salt plains as a place to live.
Whose house I made the wilderness, and the salt plain his dwellings?
7 It despises the noise of the city; it doesn't need to listen to the shouts of a driver.
He laugheth at the tumult of the city, and heareth not the shouts of the driver;
8 It hunts in the mountains for pastureland, searching for all kinds of green plants to eat.
The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searcheth after every green thing.
9 Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will it spend the night at your manger?
Will the buffalo be willing to serve thee, or will he lodge by thy crib?
10 Can you tie a wild ox to a plow? Can you make it till your fields for you?
Canst thou bind the buffalo with his cord in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee?
11 Because it's so powerful can you trust it? Can you depend on it to do your heavy work for you?
Wilt thou put confidence in him, because his strength is great? and wilt thou leave thy labour to him?
12 Are you sure it will gather your grain and bring it to your threshing floor?
Wilt thou trust him to bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy threshing-floor?
13 The ostrich proudly flaps her wings, but they are nothing like the flight feathers of the stork.
The wing of the ostrich beats joyously — But is it the stork's pinion and plumage?
14 The ostrich abandons her eggs on the ground, leaving them to be warmed in the dust.
For she leaveth her eggs to the earth, and warmeth them in the dust,
15 She doesn't think that they can be crushed underfoot, trampled by a wild animal.
And forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the beast of the field may trample them.
16 She is tough towards her young, acting as if they didn't belong to her. She doesn't care that all her work was for nothing.
She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers; her labour is in vain, without her concern.
17 For I, God, made her forget wisdom—she didn't get her share of intelligence.
For God hath deprived her of wisdom, and hath not furnished her with understanding.
18 But when she needs to, she can jump up and run, mocking a horse and its rider with her speed.
What time she lasheth herself on high, she scorneth the horse and his rider.
19 Did you give the horse its strength? Did you place a mane upon its neck?
Hast thou given strength to the horse? hast thou clothed his neck with the quivering mane?
20 Did you make it able to jump like a locust? Its loud snorting is terrifying!
Dost thou make him to leap as a locust? His majestic snorting is terrible.
21 It paws at the ground, rearing up with power as it charges into battle.
He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in [his] strength; he goeth forth to meet the armed host.
22 It laughs at fear; it is not frightened at all.
He laugheth at fear, and is not affrighted; neither turneth he back from before the sword.
23 The quiver full of arrows rattles against it; the spear and the javelin flash in the sunlight.
The quiver rattleth upon him, the glittering spear and the javelin.
24 Shaking with rage it gallops across the ground; it cannot remain still when the trumpet sounds.
He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage, and cannot contain himself at the sound of the trumpet:
25 Whenever the trumpet calls, it is ready; he senses the sound of battle from far away, he hears the commanders shouting.
At the noise of the trumpets he saith, Aha! and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
26 Is it through your wisdom that the hawk soars, spreading its wings towards the south?
Doth the hawk fly by thine intelligence, [and] stretch his wings toward the south?
27 Do you command the eagle to fly high and make its nest in the summits of the mountains?
Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make his nest on high?
28 It lives among the cliffs, and roosts on a remote rocky crag.
He inhabiteth the rock and maketh his dwelling on the point of the cliff, and the fastness:
29 From there it spies its prey from far away, fixing its gaze on its victim. Its chicks eagerly swallow blood.
From thence he spieth out the prey, his eyes look into the distance;
30 Where the carcasses are, that's where birds of prey are found.”
And his young ones suck up blood; and where the slain are, there is he.
