Job 39
1 Know you the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? or can you mark when the hinds do calve?
Do you know when the wild goats give birth? Have you watched the birth-pains of the deer?
2 Can you number the months that they fulfill? or know you the time when they bring forth?
Do you know how many months they carry their young? Do you know the time when they give birth?
3 They bow themselves, they bring forth their young ones, they cast out their sorrows.
They crouch down in labor to deliver their offspring.
4 Their young ones are in good liking, they grow up with corn; they go forth, and return not to them.
Their young grow strong in the open countryside; they leave and never return.
5 Who has sent out the wild ass free? or who has loosed the bands of the wild ass?
Who gave the wild donkey its freedom? Who set it free from its bonds?
6 Whose house I have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings.
I have given it the wilderness as its home, the salt plains as a place to live.
7 He scorns the multitude of the city, neither regards he the crying of the driver.
It despises the noise of the city; it doesn't need to listen to the shouts of a driver.
8 The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searches after every green thing.
It hunts in the mountains for pastureland, searching for all kinds of green plants to eat.
9 Will the unicorn be willing to serve you, or abide by your crib?
Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will it spend the night at your manger?
10 Can you bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after you?
Can you tie a wild ox to a plow? Can you make it till your fields for you?
11 Will you trust him, because his strength is great? or will you leave your labor to him?
Because it's so powerful can you trust it? Can you depend on it to do your heavy work for you?
12 Will you believe him, that he will bring home your seed, and gather it into your barn?
Are you sure it will gather your grain and bring it to your threshing floor?
13 Gave you the goodly wings to the peacocks? or wings and feathers to the ostrich?
The ostrich proudly flaps her wings, but they are nothing like the flight feathers of the stork.
14 Which leaves her eggs in the earth, and warms them in dust,
The ostrich abandons her eggs on the ground, leaving them to be warmed in the dust.
15 And forgets that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them.
She doesn't think that they can be crushed underfoot, trampled by a wild animal.
16 She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers: her labor is in vain without fear;
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.
17 Because God has deprived her of wisdom, neither has he imparted to her understanding.
For I, God, made her forget wisdom—she didn't get her share of intelligence.
18 What time she lifts up herself on high, she scorns the horse and his rider.
But when she needs to, she can jump up and run, mocking a horse and its rider with her speed.
19 Have you given the horse strength? have you clothed his neck with thunder?
Did you give the horse its strength? Did you place a mane upon its neck?
20 Can you make him afraid as a grasshopper? the glory of his nostrils is terrible.
Did you make it able to jump like a locust? Its loud snorting is terrifying!
21 He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength: he goes on to meet the armed men.
It paws at the ground, rearing up with power as it charges into battle.
22 He mocks at fear, and is not affrighted; neither turns he back from the sword.
It laughs at fear; it is not frightened at all.
23 The quiver rattles against him, the glittering spear and the shield.
The quiver full of arrows rattles against it; the spear and the javelin flash in the sunlight.
24 He swallows the ground with fierceness and rage: neither believes he that it is the sound of the trumpet.
Shaking with rage it gallops across the ground; it cannot remain still when the trumpet sounds.
25 He says among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smells the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
Whenever the trumpet calls, it is ready; he senses the sound of battle from far away, he hears the commanders shouting.
26 Does the hawk fly by your wisdom, and stretch her wings toward the south?
Is it through your wisdom that the hawk soars, spreading its wings towards the south?
27 Does the eagle mount up at your command, and make her nest on high?
Do you command the eagle to fly high and make its nest in the summits of the mountains?
28 She dwells and stays on the rock, on the crag of the rock, and the strong place.
It lives among the cliffs, and roosts on a remote rocky crag.
29 From there she seeks the prey, and her eyes behold afar off.
From there it spies its prey from far away, fixing its gaze on its victim. Its chicks eagerly swallow blood.
30 Her young ones also suck up blood: and where the slain are, there is she.
Where the carcasses are, that's where birds of prey are found.”
