Job 39:1-30
39 “Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth?+
Have you watched the deer give birth to their young?+
2 Do you count the months that they must complete?
Do you know the time when they give birth?
3 They crouch down when they give birth to their young,And their labor pains end.
4 Their young become strong and grow up in the open field;They go out and do not return to them.
5 Who set the wild donkey* free,+And who untied the ropes of the wild donkey?
6 I have made the desert plain its homeAnd the salt land its dwelling.
7 It scorns the tumult of the city;It does not hear the shouts of the driver.
8 It roams the hills, seeking pasture,Looking for every green plant.
9 Is the wild bull willing to serve you?+
Will it spend the night in your stable?*
10 Will you hold a wild bull to the furrow with a rope,Or will it follow you to plow* the valley?
11 Will you trust in its great strengthAnd let it do your heavy work?
12 Will you rely on it to bring back your harvest,*And will it gather it to your threshing floor?
13 The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully,But can her pinions and plumage compare with the stork’s?+
14 For she leaves her eggs on the ground,And she keeps them warm in the dust.
15 She forgets that some foot may crush themOr that a wild animal may trample them.
16 She treats her sons harshly, as if they were not hers;+She has no fear that her labor may be in vain.
17 For God has deprived her of* wisdomAnd given her no share in understanding.
18 But when she rises up and flaps her wings,She laughs at the horse and at its rider.
19 Are you the one who gives the horse its strength?+
Do you clothe its neck with a rustling mane?
20 Can you cause it to leap like a locust?
Its majestic snorting is terrifying.+
21 It paws the ground in the valley and exults mightily;+It charges into the battle.*+
22 It laughs at fear and is afraid of nothing.+
It does not turn back because of the sword.
23 The quiver rattles against it,The spear and the javelin flash.
24 Trembling with excitement, it surges forward,*It cannot stand still at* the sound of the horn.
25 When the horn blows, it says, ‘Aha!’
It smells the battle from afarAnd hears the shouting of commanders and the battle cry.+
26 Is it by your understanding that the falcon soars,Spreading its wings to the south?
27 Or is it at your order that an eagle flies upward+And builds its nest high up,+
28 Spending the night on a cliff,Dwelling in its stronghold on a rocky crag?*
29 From there it searches for food;+Its eyes look far into the distance.
30 Its young sip up blood;And wherever the slain are, there it is.”+
Footnotes
^ Or “onager.”
^ Or “manger.”
^ Or “harrow.”
^ Lit., “seed.”
^ Lit., “made her forget.”
^ Lit., “It goes out to meet armor.”
^ Lit., “swallows the ground (earth).”
^ Or possibly, “It does not believe.”
^ Lit., “on the tooth of a crag.”
