Job 39
1 Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? dost thou mark the calving of the hinds?
Do you know when the wild goats give birth? Have you watched the birth-pains of the deer?
2 Dost thou number the months that they fulfil? and knowest thou 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 give birth to their young ones, they cast out their pains;
They crouch down in labor to deliver their offspring.
4 Their young ones become strong, they grow up in the open field, they go forth, and return not unto them.
Their young grow strong in the open countryside; they leave and never return.
5 Who hath sent out the wild ass free? and who hath loosed the bands of the onager,
Who gave the wild donkey its freedom? Who set it free from its bonds?
6 Whose house I made the wilderness, and the salt plain his dwellings?
I have given it the wilderness as its home, the salt plains as a place to live.
7 He laugheth at the tumult of the city, and heareth not the shouts 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 searcheth after every green thing.
It hunts in the mountains for pastureland, searching for all kinds of green plants to eat.
9 Will the buffalo be willing to serve thee, or will he lodge by thy crib?
Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will it spend the night at your manger?
10 Canst thou bind the buffalo with his cord in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee?
Can you tie a wild ox to a plow? Can you make it till your fields for you?
11 Wilt thou put confidence in him, because his strength is great? and wilt thou leave thy labour to him?
Because it's so powerful can you trust it? Can you depend on it to do your heavy work for you?
12 Wilt thou trust him to bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy threshing-floor?
Are you sure it will gather your grain and bring it to your threshing floor?
13 The wing of the ostrich beats joyously — But is it the stork's pinion and plumage?
The ostrich proudly flaps her wings, but they are nothing like the flight feathers of the stork.
14 For she leaveth her eggs to the earth, and warmeth them in the dust,
The ostrich abandons her eggs on the ground, leaving them to be warmed in the dust.
15 And forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the beast of the field may trample 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 labour is in vain, without her concern.
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 For God hath deprived her of wisdom, and hath not furnished her with understanding.
For I, God, made her forget wisdom—she didn't get her share of intelligence.
18 What time she lasheth herself on high, she scorneth 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 Hast thou given strength to the horse? hast thou clothed his neck with the quivering mane?
Did you give the horse its strength? Did you place a mane upon its neck?
20 Dost thou make him to leap as a locust? His majestic snorting is terrible.
Did you make it able to jump like a locust? Its loud snorting is terrifying!
21 He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in [his] strength; he goeth forth to meet the armed host.
It paws at the ground, rearing up with power as it charges into battle.
22 He laugheth at fear, and is not affrighted; neither turneth he back from before the sword.
It laughs at fear; it is not frightened at all.
23 The quiver rattleth upon him, the glittering spear and the javelin.
The quiver full of arrows rattles against it; the spear and the javelin flash in the sunlight.
24 He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage, and cannot contain himself at the sound of the trumpet:
Shaking with rage it gallops across the ground; it cannot remain still when the trumpet sounds.
25 At the noise of the trumpets he saith, Aha! and he smelleth 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 Doth the hawk fly by thine intelligence, [and] stretch his wings toward the south?
Is it through your wisdom that the hawk soars, spreading its wings towards the south?
27 Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make his nest on high?
Do you command the eagle to fly high and make its nest in the summits of the mountains?
28 He inhabiteth the rock and maketh his dwelling on the point of the cliff, and the fastness:
It lives among the cliffs, and roosts on a remote rocky crag.
29 From thence he spieth out the prey, his eyes look into the distance;
From there it spies its prey from far away, fixing its gaze on its victim. Its chicks eagerly swallow blood.
30 And his young ones suck up blood; and where the slain are, there is he.
Where the carcasses are, that's where birds of prey are found.”
