Job 39
1 Do you know at what time the wild goats in the rocks bear their young? Can you watch when the deer are having their fawns?
Do you know when the wild goats give birth? Have you watched the birth-pains of the deer?
2 Can you count the months that they gestate? Do you know the time when they bear their young?
Do you know how many months they carry their young? Do you know the time when they give birth?
3 They crouch down and birth their young, and then they finish their labor pains.
They crouch down in labor to deliver their offspring.
4 Their young ones become strong and grow up in the open fields; they go out and do not come back again.
Their young grow strong in the open countryside; they leave and never return.
5 Who let the wild donkey go free? Who has untied the bonds of the swift donkey,
Who gave the wild donkey its freedom? Who set it free from its bonds?
6 whose home I have made in the Arabah, his house in the salt land?
I have given it the wilderness as its home, the salt plains as a place to live.
7 He laughs in scorn at the noises in the city; he does not hear the driver's shouts.
It despises the noise of the city; it doesn't need to listen to the shouts of a driver.
8 He roams over the mountains as his pastures; there he looks for every green plant to eat.
It hunts in the mountains for pastureland, searching for all kinds of green plants to eat.
9 Will the wild ox be happy to serve you? Will he consent to stay by your manger?
Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will it spend the night at your manger?
10 Can you use ropes to hold the wild ox in the furrows? Will he harrow the valleys as he follows 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? Will you leave your work to him to do?
Because it's so powerful can you trust it? Can you depend on it to do your heavy work for you?
12 Will you depend on him to bring your grain home, to gather the grain for your threshing floor?
Are you sure it will gather your grain and bring it to your threshing floor?
13 The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the pinions and plumage of love?
The ostrich proudly flaps her wings, but they are nothing like the flight feathers of the stork.
14 For she leaves her eggs on the earth, and she lets them keep warm in the dust;
The ostrich abandons her eggs on the ground, leaving them to be warmed in the dust.
15 she forgets that a foot might crush them or that a wild beast might trample them.
She doesn't think that they can be crushed underfoot, trampled by a wild animal.
16 She deals roughly with her young ones as if they were not hers; she does not fear that her labor might have been in vain,
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 and has not given her any understanding.
For I, God, made her forget wisdom—she didn't get her share of intelligence.
18 When she runs swiftly, she laughs in scorn at the horse and its 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 his strength? Did you clothe his neck with his flowing mane?
Did you give the horse its strength? Did you place a mane upon its neck?
20 Have you ever made him jump like a locust? The majesty of his snorting is fearsome.
Did you make it able to jump like a locust? Its loud snorting is terrifying!
21 He paws in might and rejoices in his strength; he rushes out to meet the weapons.
It paws at the ground, rearing up with power as it charges into battle.
22 He mocks fear and is not dismayed; he does not turn back from the sword.
It laughs at fear; it is not frightened at all.
23 The quiver rattles against his flank, along with the flashing spear and the javelin.
The quiver full of arrows rattles against it; the spear and the javelin flash in the sunlight.
24 He swallows up ground with fierceness and rage; at the trumpet's sound, he cannot stand in one place.
Shaking with rage it gallops across the ground; it cannot remain still when the trumpet sounds.
25 Whenever the trumpet sounds, he says, 'Aha!' He smells the battle from far away— the thunderous shouts of the commanders and the outcries.
Whenever the trumpet calls, it is ready; he senses the sound of battle from far away, he hears the commanders shouting.
26 Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars, that he stretches out his wings for the south?
Is it through your wisdom that the hawk soars, spreading its wings towards the south?
27 Is it at your orders that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest in high places?
Do you command the eagle to fly high and make its nest in the summits of the mountains?
28 He lives on cliffs and makes his home on the peaks of cliffs, a stronghold.
It lives among the cliffs, and roosts on a remote rocky crag.
29 From there he searches for victims; his eyes see them from very far away.
From there it spies its prey from far away, fixing its gaze on its victim. Its chicks eagerly swallow blood.
30 His young also drink up blood; where killed people are, there he is.”
Where the carcasses are, that's where birds of prey are found.”
