Job 39
1 “[Job], do you know at what time/season [of the year] the female mountain goats give birth? Have you watched the wild deer while their fawns were being born?
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?
2 Do you know how many months pass from the time they become pregnant until their fawns are born?
Have you numbered the months since their conception, and do you know at what time they gave birth?
3 [When they give birth, ] they crouch down so that the fawns do not [get hurt by] falling to the ground when they are born.
They bend themselves for their offspring, and they give birth, and they emit roars.
4 The young fawns grow up in the open fields, and then they leave their mothers and do not return to them again.
Their young are weaned and go out to feed; they depart and do not return to them.
5 “Who allows the wild donkeys to go wherever they want [DOU]?
Who has set the wild ass free, and who has released his bonds?
6 I am the one who put them in the desert, in places where grass does not grow.
I have given a house in solitude to him, and his tabernacle is in the salted land.
7 They do not like the noise in the cities; [in the desert] they do not have to listen to the shouts of those who force donkeys to work.
He despises the crowded city; he does not pay attention to the bellow of the tax collector.
8 They go to the hills to find food; there they search for grass to eat.
He looks around the mountains of his pasture, and he searches everywhere for green plants.
9 :Will a wild ox agree to work for you? Will it allow you to keep it penned up at night in the place where you put feed for your animals?
Will the rhinoceros be willing to serve you, and will he remain in your stall?
10 And can you fasten it with a rope so that it will plow furrows/trenches in your fields?
Can you detain the rhinoceros with your harness to plough for you, and will he loosen the soil of the furrows behind you?
11 Since it is very strong, can you trust it to work for you? Can you go away after you tell it what work it should do [and assume that it will do that work]?
Will you put your faith in his great strength, and delegate your labors to him?
12 Can you rely on it to come back [from the field], bringing your grain to the place where you thresh it?
Will you trust him to return to you the seed, and to gather it on your drying floor?
13 “[Think also about] the ostriches. [They] joyfully flap their wings, but they do not have wing feathers [that enable them to fly] like storks do.
The wing of the ostrich is like the wings of the heron, and of the hawk.
14 Ostriches lay their eggs on top of the ground [and then walk away], leaving the eggs to be warmed in the sand.
When she leaves eggs behind in the earth, will you perhaps warm them in the dust?
15 Ostriches do not worry that some wild animal may step on the eggs and crush them [DOU].
She forgets that feet may trample them, or that the beasts of the field may shatter them.
16 Ostriches act cruelly towards their chicks; they act as though the chicks belonged to some other ostrich. They are not concerned if [their chicks die], [and so] the laying of the eggs was in vain.
She is hardened against her young, as if they were not hers; she has labored in vain, with no fear compelling her.
17 That is because I did not allow ostriches to be wise. I did not enable them to be intelligent.
For God has deprived her of wisdom; neither has he given her understanding.
18 But, when they get up and begin to run, they scornfully laugh at horses with their riders [because the horses cannot run as fast as the ostriches!]
Yet, when the time is right, she raises her wings on high; she ridicules the horse and his rider.
19 And [think about] horses. [Job], are you the one who caused horses to be strong? Are you the one who put flowing (manes/long hair) on their necks?
Will you supply strength to the horse, or envelope his throat with neighing?
20 Are you the one who enabled them to leap forward like locusts? When they (snort/blow loudly through their noses), they cause people to be afraid.
Will you alarm him as the locusts do? His panic is revealed by the display of his nostrils.
21 They paw the ground, rejoicing about being very strong, as they prepare to rush into a battle.
He digs at the earth with his hoof; he jumps around boldly; he advances to meet armed men.
22 [It is as if] they laugh at the thought of being afraid. They are not afraid of anything! They do not run away when [the soldiers in the battle are fighting each other with] swords.
He despises fear; he does not turn away from the sword.
23 The quivers containing the riders’ arrows rattle against the horses’ sides, and the spears and javelins flash [in the light of the sun].
Above him, the quiver rattles, the spear and the shield shake.
24 The horses paw the ground fiercely/excitedly, [wanting the battle to begin, ] and they rush into the battle when the trumpet is blown.
Seething and raging, he drinks up the earth; neither does he pause when the blast of the trumpet sounds.
25 They neigh [joyfully] when they hear someone blowing the trumpet. They can smell a battle even when they are far away, and they understand what it means when the commanders shout their commands [to their soldiers].
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.
26 “[And think about big birds.] Are you the one who enabled hawks to spread their wings and fly to the south [for the winter]?
Does the hawk grow feathers by means of your wisdom, spreading her wings towards the south?
27 Do eagles fly high up [into the cliffs] to make their nests because you commanded them to do that?
Will the eagle lift herself up at your command and make her nest in steep places?
28 They live in [holes in] those cliffs. They are safe in those high pointed rocks [because no animals can reach them there].
She dwells among the rocks, and she lingers among broken boulders and inaccessible cliffs.
29 As they watch carefully from there, they see far away the animals that they can kill (OR, dead bodies of animals).
From there, she looks for food, and her eyes catch sight of it from far away.
30 After an eagle kills an animal, the baby eagles drink the blood of that animal.”
Her young will drink blood, and wherever the carcass will be, she is there immediately.
