Job 39
1 Sais-tu le temps où mettent bas les bouquetins des rochers? As-tu observé les douleurs des biches?
“[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?
2 As-tu compté les mois qu’elles accomplissent, et connais-tu le temps où elles mettent bas?
Do you know how many months pass from the time they become pregnant until their fawns are born?
3 Elles se courbent, elles enfantent leur portée, elles se délivrent de leurs douleurs.
[When they give birth, ] they crouch down so that the fawns do not [get hurt by] falling to the ground when they are born.
4 Leurs petits deviennent forts, ils grandissent dans les champs, ils s’en vont et ne reviennent pas à elles.
The young fawns grow up in the open fields, and then they leave their mothers and do not return to them again.
5 Qui a lâché l’âne sauvage? qui a délié les liens de l’onagre,
“Who allows the wild donkeys to go wherever they want [DOU]?
6 Auquel j’ai donné le désert pour maison, et la terre salée pour demeure?
I am the one who put them in the desert, in places where grass does not grow.
7 Il se rit du tumulte de la ville, il n’entend pas le cri du conducteur.
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.
8 Il parcourt les montagnes pour trouver sa pâture, et il est en quête de tout ce qui est vert.
They go to the hills to find food; there they search for grass to eat.
9 Le buffle voudra-t-il être à ton service? Passera-t-il la nuit auprès de ta crèche?
: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?
10 Attacheras-tu le buffle par sa corde dans le sillon? Hersera-t-il les vallées après toi?
And can you fasten it with a rope so that it will plow furrows/trenches in your fields?
11 Auras-tu confiance en lui, parce que sa force est grande, et lui abandonneras-tu ton labeur?
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]?
12 Te fieras-tu à lui pour rentrer ce que tu as semé, et rassemblera-t-il [le blé] dans ton aire?
Can you rely on it to come back [from the field], bringing your grain to the place where you thresh it?
13 L’aile de l’autruche bat joyeusement: ce sont les plumes et le plumage de la cigogne;
“[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.
14 Toutefois elle abandonne ses œufs à la terre et les chauffe sur la poussière,
Ostriches lay their eggs on top of the ground [and then walk away], leaving the eggs to be warmed in the sand.
15 Et elle oublie que le pied peut les écraser et la bête des champs les fouler;
Ostriches do not worry that some wild animal may step on the eggs and crush them [DOU].
16 Elle est dure avec ses petits comme s’ils n’étaient pas à elle; son labeur est vain, sans qu’elle s’en émeuve.
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.
17 Car Dieu l’a privée de sagesse, et ne lui a pas départi l’intelligence.
That is because I did not allow ostriches to be wise. I did not enable them to be intelligent.
18 Quand elle s’enlève, elle se moque du cheval et de celui qui le monte.
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!]
19 Est-ce toi qui as donné au cheval sa force? Est-ce toi qui as revêtu son cou d’une crinière flottante?
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?
20 Est-ce toi qui le fais bondir comme la sauterelle? Son ronflement magnifique est terrible.
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.
21 Il creuse [le sol] dans la plaine et se réjouit de sa force; il sort à la rencontre des armes;
They paw the ground, rejoicing about being very strong, as they prepare to rush into a battle.
22 Il se rit de la frayeur et ne s’épouvante pas, et il ne se tourne pas devant l’épée.
[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.
23 Sur lui retentit le carquois, brillent la lance et le javelot.
The quivers containing the riders’ arrows rattle against the horses’ sides, and the spears and javelins flash [in the light of the sun].
24 Frémissant et agité, il dévore le sol, et ne peut se contenir quand sonne la trompette.
The horses paw the ground fiercely/excitedly, [wanting the battle to begin, ] and they rush into the battle when the trumpet is blown.
25 Au bruit de la trompette, il dit: Ha! ha! et de loin il flaire la bataille, le tonnerre des chefs et le tumulte.
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].
26 Est-ce par ton intelligence que l’épervier prend son essor et qu’il étend ses ailes vers le midi?
“[And think about big birds.] Are you the one who enabled hawks to spread their wings and fly to the south [for the winter]?
27 Est-ce à ta parole que l’aigle s’élève et qu’il bâtit haut son aire?
Do eagles fly high up [into the cliffs] to make their nests because you commanded them to do that?
28 Il demeure dans les rochers et y fait son habitation, sur la dent du rocher et sur les hautes cimes.
They live in [holes in] those cliffs. They are safe in those high pointed rocks [because no animals can reach them there].
29 De là il épie sa nourriture, ses yeux regardent dans le lointain.
As they watch carefully from there, they see far away the animals that they can kill (OR, dead bodies of animals).
30 Ses petits sucent le sang, et là où sont les tués, là il est.
After an eagle kills an animal, the baby eagles drink the blood of that animal.”
