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?
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 pass from the time they become pregnant until their fawns are born?
Dost thou number the months that they fulfil? and knowest thou the time when they bring forth?
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 bow themselves, they give birth to their young ones, they cast out their pains;
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 ones become strong, they grow up in the open field, they go forth, and return not unto them.
5 “Who allows the wild donkeys to go wherever they want [DOU]?
Who hath sent out the wild ass free? and who hath loosed the bands of the onager,
6 I am the one who put them in the desert, in places where grass does not grow.
Whose house I made the wilderness, and the salt plain his dwellings?
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 laugheth at the tumult of the city, and heareth not the shouts of the driver;
8 They go to the hills to find food; there they search for grass to eat.
The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searcheth after every green thing.
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 buffalo be willing to serve thee, or will he lodge by thy crib?
10 And can you fasten it with a rope so that it will plow furrows/trenches in your fields?
Canst thou bind the buffalo with his cord in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee?
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]?
Wilt thou put confidence in him, because his strength is great? and wilt thou leave thy labour to him?
12 Can you rely on it to come back [from the field], bringing your grain to the place where you thresh it?
Wilt thou trust him to bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy threshing-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 beats joyously — But is it the stork's pinion and plumage?
14 Ostriches lay their eggs on top of the ground [and then walk away], leaving the eggs to be warmed in the sand.
For she leaveth her eggs to the earth, and warmeth them in the dust,
15 Ostriches do not worry that some wild animal may step on the eggs and crush them [DOU].
And forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the beast of the field may trample 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 ones, as though they were not hers; her labour is in vain, without her concern.
17 That is because I did not allow ostriches to be wise. I did not enable them to be intelligent.
For God hath deprived her of wisdom, and hath not furnished her with 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!]
What time she lasheth herself on high, she scorneth 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?
Hast thou given strength to the horse? hast thou clothed his neck with the quivering mane?
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.
Dost thou make him to leap as a locust? His majestic snorting is terrible.
21 They paw the ground, rejoicing about being very strong, as they prepare to rush into a battle.
He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in [his] strength; he goeth forth to meet the armed host.
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 laugheth at fear, and is not affrighted; neither turneth he back from before 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].
The quiver rattleth upon him, the glittering spear and the javelin.
24 The horses paw the ground fiercely/excitedly, [wanting the battle to begin, ] and they rush into the battle when the trumpet is blown.
He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage, and cannot contain himself at the sound of the trumpet:
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].
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 “[And think about big birds.] Are you the one who enabled hawks to spread their wings and fly to the south [for the winter]?
Doth the hawk fly by thine intelligence, [and] stretch his wings toward the south?
27 Do eagles fly high up [into the cliffs] to make their nests because you commanded them to do that?
Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make his nest on high?
28 They live in [holes in] those cliffs. They are safe in those high pointed rocks [because no animals can reach them there].
He inhabiteth the rock and maketh his dwelling on the point of the cliff, and the fastness:
29 As they watch carefully from there, they see far away the animals that they can kill (OR, dead bodies of animals).
From thence he spieth out the prey, his eyes look into the distance;
30 After an eagle kills an animal, the baby eagles drink the blood of that animal.”
And his young ones suck up blood; and where the slain are, there is he.
