Job 39

¹Do you know when mountain goats give birth?

Have you watched the deer in labor?

²Can you count the months they are pregnant ^a

so you can know the time they give birth?

³They crouch down to give birth to their young;

they deliver their newborn. ^b

⁴Their offspring are healthy and grow up in the open field.

They leave and do not return. ^c

⁵Who set the wild donkey free?

Who released the swift donkey from its harness?

⁶I made the desert ^d its home,

and the salty ^e wasteland its dwelling.

⁷It scoffs at the noise of the village

and never hears the shouts of a driver. ^f

⁸It roams the mountains for its pastureland,

searching for anything green.

⁹Would the wild ox be willing to serve you?

Would it spend the night by your feeding trough?

¹⁰Can you hold the wild ox ^g to a furrow by its harness?

Will it plow the valleys behind you?

¹¹Can you depend on it because its strength is great?

Would you leave it to do your hard work?

¹²Can you trust the wild ox to harvest your grain

and bring it to your threshing floor?

¹³The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully,

but are her feathers and plumage like the stork’s? ^h,ⁱ

¹⁴She abandons her eggs on the ground

and lets them be warmed in the sand.

¹⁵She forgets that a foot may crush them

or that some wild animal may trample them.

¹⁶She treats her young harshly, as if they were not her own,

with no fear that her labor may have been in vain.

¹⁷For God has deprived her of wisdom;

he has not endowed her with understanding. ^j

¹⁸When she proudly ^k spreads her wings,

she laughs at the horse and its rider.

¹⁹Do you give strength to the horse?

Do you adorn his neck with a mane? ^l

²⁰Do you make him leap like a locust?

His proud snorting fills one with terror.

²¹He paws ^m in the valley and rejoices in his strength;

he charges into battle. ⁿ

²²He laughs at fear, since he is afraid of nothing;

he does not run from the sword.

²³A quiver rattles at his side,

along with a flashing spear and a javelin.

²⁴He charges ahead ^o with trembling rage;

he cannot stand still at the sound of the ram’s horn.

²⁵When the ram’s horn blasts, he snorts defiantly. ^p

He smells the battle from a distance;

he hears the officers’ shouts and the battle cry.

²⁶Does the hawk take flight by your understanding

and spread its wings to the south?

²⁷Does the eagle soar at your command

and make its nest ^q on high?

²⁸It lives on a cliff where it spends the night;

its stronghold is on a rocky crag.

²⁹From there it searches for prey; ^r

its eyes penetrate the distance.

³⁰Its brood gulps down blood,

and where the slain are, it is there. ^s