Job 39

1 Do you know when the wild goats give birth? Have you watched the birth-pains of the deer?

[Say] if you know the time of the bringing forth of the wild goats of the rock, and [if] you have marked the calving of the hinds:

2 Do you know how many months they carry their young? Do you know the time when they give birth?

and [if] you has have numbered the full months of their being with young, and [if] you have relieved their pangs:

3 They crouch down in labor to deliver their offspring.

and have reared their young without fear; and will you loosen their pangs?

4 Their young grow strong in the open countryside; they leave and never return.

Their young will break forth; they will be multiplied with offspring: [their young] will go forth, and will not return to them.

5 Who gave the wild donkey its freedom? Who set it free from its bonds?

And who is he that sent forth the wild ass free? and who loosed his bands?

6 I have given it the wilderness as its home, the salt plains as a place to live.

whereas I made his habitation the wilderness, and the salt land his coverts.

7 It despises the noise of the city; it doesn't need to listen to the shouts of a driver.

He laughs to scorn the multitude of the city, and hears not the chiding of the tax-gatherer.

8 It hunts in the mountains for pastureland, searching for all kinds of green plants to eat.

He will survey the mountains [as] his pasture, and he seeks after every green thing.

9 Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will it spend the night at your manger?

And will the unicorn be willing to serve you, or to lie down at your manger?

10 Can you tie a wild ox to a plow? Can you make it till your fields for you?

And will you bind his yoke with thongs, or will he plow furrows for you in the plain?

11 Because it's so powerful can you trust it? Can you depend on it to do your heavy work for you?

And do you trust him, because his strength is great? and will you commit your works to him?

12 Are you sure it will gather your grain and bring it to your threshing floor?

And will you believe that he will return to you your seed, and bring [it] in [to] your threshing floor?

13 The ostrich proudly flaps her wings, but they are nothing like the flight feathers of the stork.

The peacock has a beautiful wing: if the stork and the ostrich conceive, [it is worthy of notice],

14 The ostrich abandons her eggs on the ground, leaving them to be warmed in the dust.

for [the ostrich] will leave her eggs in the ground, and warm them on the dust,

15 She doesn't think that they can be crushed underfoot, trampled by a wild animal.

and has forgotten that the foot will scatter them, and the wild beasts of the field trample them.

16 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.

She has hardened [herself] against her young ones, as though [she bereaved] not herself: she labors in vain without fear.

17 For I, God, made her forget wisdom—she didn't get her share of intelligence.

For God has withholden wisdom from her, and not given her a portion in understanding.

18 But when she needs to, she can jump up and run, mocking a horse and its rider with her speed.

In her season she will lift herself on high; she will scorn the horse and his rider.

19 Did you give the horse its strength? Did you place a mane upon its neck?

Hast you invested the horse with strength, and clothed his neck with terror?

20 Did you make it able to jump like a locust? Its loud snorting is terrifying!

And have you clad him in perfect armor, and made his breast glorious with courage?

21 It paws at the ground, rearing up with power as it charges into battle.

He paws exulting in the plain, and goes forth in strength into the plain.

22 It laughs at fear; it is not frightened at all.

He laughs to scorn a king as he meets him, and will by no means turn back from the sword.

23 The quiver full of arrows rattles against it; the spear and the javelin flash in the sunlight.

The bow and sword resound against him; and [his] rage will swallow up the ground:

24 Shaking with rage it gallops across the ground; it cannot remain still when the trumpet sounds.

and he will not believe until the trumpet sounds.

25 Whenever the trumpet calls, it is ready; he senses the sound of battle from far away, he hears the commanders shouting.

And when the trumpet sounds, he says, Aha! and afar off he smells the war with prancing and neighing.

26 Is it through your wisdom that the hawk soars, spreading its wings towards the south?

And does the hawk remain steady by your wisdom, having spread out her wings unmoved, looking toward the region of the south?

27 Do you command the eagle to fly high and make its nest in the summits of the mountains?

And does the eagle rise at your command, and the vulture remain sitting over his nest,

28 It lives among the cliffs, and roosts on a remote rocky crag.

on a crag of a rock, and in a secret [place]?

29 From there it spies its prey from far away, fixing its gaze on its victim. Its chicks eagerly swallow blood.

Thence he seeks food, his eyes observe from far.

30 Where the carcasses are, that's where birds of prey are found.”

And his young ones roll themselves in blood, and wherever the carcasses may be, immediately they are found.