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 the time when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears fawns?

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

Can you count the months that they fulfil? Or 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 bow themselves. They bear their young. They end their labour pains.

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 ones become strong. They grow up in the open field. They go out, and don’t return again.

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

“Who has set the wild donkey free? Or who has loosened the bonds of the swift donkey,

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

whose home I have made the wilderness, and the salt land his dwelling place?

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.

He scorns the tumult of the city, neither does he hear the shouting of the driver.

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

The range of the mountains is his pasture. He searches after every green thing.

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?

“Will the wild ox be content to serve you? Or will he stay by your feeding trough?

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

Can you hold the wild ox in the furrow with his harness? Or will he till the valleys after 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]?

Will you trust him, because his strength is great? Or will you leave to him your labour?

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

Will you confide in him, that he will bring home your seed, and gather the grain of 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 wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the feathers and plumage of love?

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

For she leaves her eggs on the earth, warms them in the dust,

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

and forgets that the foot may crush them, or that the wild animal may trample them.

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 deals harshly with her young ones, as if they were not hers. Though her labour is in vain, she is without fear,

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

because God has deprived her of wisdom, neither has he imparted to her understanding.

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!]

When she lifts up herself on high, she scorns the horse and his rider.

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?

“Have you given the horse might? Have you clothed his neck with a quivering mane?

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.

Have you made him to leap as a locust? The glory of his snorting is awesome.

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

He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength. He goes out to meet the armed men.

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.

He mocks at fear, and is not dismayed, neither does he turn back from the sword.

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 rattles against him, the flashing spear and the javelin.

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

He eats up the ground with fierceness and rage, neither does he stand still at the sound of the shofar.

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].

As often as the shofar sounds he snorts, ‘Aha!’ He smells the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the 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 by your wisdom that the hawk soars, and stretches her wings towards the south?

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

Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up, and makes his nest on high?

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

On the cliff he dwells and makes his home, on the point of the cliff and the stronghold.

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

From there he spies out the prey. His eyes see it afar off.

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

His young ones also suck up blood. Where the slain are, there he is.”