Job 39
1 Do you know at what time the wild goats in the rocks bear their young? Can you watch when the deer are having their fawns?
Have you knowledge of the rock-goats? or do you see the roes giving birth to their young?
2 Can you count the months that they gestate? Do you know the time when they bear their young?
Is the number of their months fixed by you? or is the time when they give birth ordered by you?
3 They crouch down and birth their young, and then they finish their labor pains.
They are bent down, they give birth to their young, they let loose the fruit of their body.
4 Their young ones become strong and grow up in the open fields; they go out and do not come back again.
Their young ones are strong, living in the open country; they go out and do not come back again.
5 Who let the wild donkey go free? Who has untied the bonds of the swift donkey,
Who has let the ass of the fields go free? or made loose the bands of the loud-voiced beast?
6 whose home I have made in the Arabah, his house in the salt land?
To whom I have given the waste land for a heritage, and the salt land as a living-place.
7 He laughs in scorn at the noises in the city; he does not hear the driver's shouts.
He makes sport of the noise of the town; the voice of the driver does not come to his ears;
8 He roams over the mountains as his pastures; there he looks for every green plant to eat.
He goes looking for his grass-lands in the mountains, searching out every green thing.
9 Will the wild ox be happy to serve you? Will he consent to stay by your manger?
Will the ox of the mountains be your servant? or is his night's resting-place by your food-store?
10 Can you use ropes to hold the wild ox in the furrows? Will he harrow the valleys as he follows after you?
Will he be pulling your plough with cords, turning up the valleys after you?
11 Will you trust him because his strength is great? Will you leave your work to him to do?
Will you put your faith in him, because his strength is great? will you give the fruit of your work into his care?
12 Will you depend on him to bring your grain home, to gather the grain for your threshing floor?
Will you be looking for him to come back, and get in your seed to the crushing-floor?
13 The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the pinions and plumage of love?
Is the wing of the ostrich feeble, or is it because she has no feathers,
14 For she leaves her eggs on the earth, and she lets them keep warm in the dust;
That she puts her eggs on the earth, warming them in the dust,
15 she forgets that a foot might crush them or that a wild beast might trample them.
Without a thought that they may be crushed by the foot, and broken by the beasts of the field?
16 She deals roughly with her young ones as if they were not hers; she does not fear that her labor might have been in vain,
She is cruel to her young ones, as if they were not hers; her work is to no purpose; she has no fear.
17 because God has deprived her of wisdom and has not given her any understanding.
For God has taken wisdom from her mind, and given her no measure of knowledge.
18 When she runs swiftly, she laughs in scorn at the horse and its rider.
When she is shaking her wings on high, she makes sport of the horse and of him who is seated on him.
19 Have you given the horse his strength? Did you clothe his neck with his flowing mane?
Do you give strength to the horse? is it by your hand that his neck is clothed with power?
20 Have you ever made him jump like a locust? The majesty of his snorting is fearsome.
Is it through you that he is shaking like a locust, in the pride of his loud-sounding breath?
21 He paws in might and rejoices in his strength; he rushes out to meet the weapons.
He is stamping with joy in the valley; he makes sport of fear.
22 He mocks fear and is not dismayed; he does not turn back from the sword.
In his strength he goes out against the arms of war, turning not away from the sword.
23 The quiver rattles against his flank, along with the flashing spear and the javelin.
The bow is sounding against him; he sees the shining point of spear and arrow.
24 He swallows up ground with fierceness and rage; at the trumpet's sound, he cannot stand in one place.
Shaking with passion, he is biting the earth; he is not able to keep quiet at the sound of the horn;
25 Whenever the trumpet sounds, he says, 'Aha!' He smells the battle from far away— the thunderous shouts of the commanders and the outcries.
When it comes to his ears he says, Aha! He is smelling the fight from far off, and hearing the thunder of the captains, and the war-cries.
26 Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars, that he stretches out his wings for the south?
Is it through your knowledge that the hawk takes his flight, stretching out his wings to the south?
27 Is it at your orders that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest in high places?
Or is it by your orders that the eagle goes up, and makes his resting-place on high?
28 He lives on cliffs and makes his home on the peaks of cliffs, a stronghold.
On the rock is his house, and on the mountain-top his strong place.
29 From there he searches for victims; his eyes see them from very far away.
From there he is watching for food; his eye sees it far off.
30 His young also drink up blood; where killed people are, there he is.”
His young have blood for their drink, and where the dead bodies are, there is he to be seen.
