Job 39

¹Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth?

Or canst thou mark when the hinds do calve?

²Canst thou number the months that they fulfil?

Or knowest thou the time when they bring forth?

³They bow themselves, they bring forth their young,

They cast out their pains.

⁴Their young ones become strong, they grow up in the open field;

They go forth, and return not again.

⁵Who hath sent out the wild ass free?

Or who hath loosed the bonds of the swift ass,

⁶Whose home I have made the wilderness,

And the salt land his dwelling-place?

⁷He scorneth the tumult of the city,

Neither heareth he the shoutings of the driver.

⁸The range of the mountains is his pasture,

And he searcheth after every green thing.

⁹Will the wild-ox be content to serve thee?

Or will he abide by thy crib?

¹⁰Canst thou bind the wild-ox with his band in the furrow?

Or will he harrow the valleys after thee?

¹¹Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great?

Or wilt thou leave to him thy labor?

¹²Wilt thou confide in him, that he will bring home thy seed,

And gather the grain of thy threshing-floor?

¹³The wings of the ostrich wave proudly;

But are they the pinions and plumage of love?

¹⁴For she leaveth her eggs on the earth,

And warmeth them in the dust,

¹⁵And forgetteth that the foot may crush them,

Or that the wild beast may trample them.

¹⁶She dealeth hardly with her young ones, as if they were not hers:

Though her labor be in vain, she is without fear;

¹⁷Because God hath deprived her of wisdom,

Neither hath he imparted to her understanding.

¹⁸What time she lifteth up herself on high,

She scorneth the horse and his rider.

¹⁹Hast thou given the horse his might?

Hast thou clothed his neck with the quivering mane?

²⁰Hast thou made him to leap as a locust?

The glory of his snorting is terrible.

²¹He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in his strength:

He goeth out to meet the armed men.

²²He mocketh at fear, and is not dismayed;

Neither turneth he back from the sword.

²³The quiver rattleth against him,

The flashing spear and the javelin.

²⁴He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage;

Neither believeth he that it is the voice of the trumpet.

²⁵As oft as the trumpet soundeth he saith, Aha!

And he smelleth the battle afar off,

The thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

²⁶Is it by thy wisdom that the hawk soareth,

And stretcheth her wings toward the south?

²⁷Is it at thy command that the eagle mounteth up,

And maketh her nest on high?

²⁸On the cliff she dwelleth, and maketh her home,

Upon the point of the cliff, and the stronghold.

²⁹From thence she spieth out the prey;

Her eyes behold it afar off.

³⁰Her young ones also suck up blood:

And where the slain are, there is she.