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?

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

2 Do you know how many months pass from the time they become pregnant until their fawns are born?

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

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 crouch down in labor to deliver their offspring.

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

5 “Who allows the wild donkeys to go wherever they want [DOU]?

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

6 I am the one who put them in the desert, in places where grass does not grow.

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

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.

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

8 They go to the hills to find food; there they search for grass to eat.

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

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?

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

10 And can you fasten it with a rope so that it will plow furrows/trenches in your fields?

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

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]?

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

12 Can you rely on it to come back [from the field], bringing your grain to the place where you thresh it?

Are you sure it will gather your grain and bring it to your 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 ostrich proudly flaps her wings, but they are nothing like the flight feathers of the stork.

14 Ostriches lay their eggs on top of the ground [and then walk away], leaving the eggs to be warmed in the sand.

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

15 Ostriches do not worry that some wild animal may step on the eggs and crush them [DOU].

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

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 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 That is because I did not allow ostriches to be wise. I did not enable them to be intelligent.

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

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!]

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

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?

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

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.

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

21 They paw the ground, rejoicing about being very strong, as they prepare to rush into a battle.

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

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.

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

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

24 The horses paw the ground fiercely/excitedly, [wanting the battle to begin, ] and they rush into the battle when the trumpet is blown.

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

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].

Whenever the trumpet calls, it is ready; he senses the sound of battle from far away, he hears the commanders 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]?

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

27 Do eagles fly high up [into the cliffs] to make their nests because you commanded them to do that?

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

28 They live in [holes in] those cliffs. They are safe in those high pointed rocks [because no animals can reach them there].

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

29 As they watch carefully from there, they see far away the animals that they can kill (OR, dead bodies of animals).

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

30 After an eagle kills an animal, the baby eagles drink the blood of that animal.”

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