Job 39–40

39Do you know when mountain goats are born?

Have you watched wild deer give birth?

²Do you know how long they carry their young?

Do you know the time for their birth?

³Do you know when they will crouch down

and bring their young into the world?

⁴In the wilds their young grow strong;

they go away and don’t come back.

⁵Who gave the wild donkeys their freedom?

Who turned them loose

and let them roam?

⁶I gave them the desert to be their home, and let them live on the salt plains.

⁷They keep far away from the noisy cities,

and no one can tame them and make them work.

⁸The mountains are the pastures where they feed,

where they search for anything green to eat.

⁹Will a wild ox work for you?

Is he willing to spend the night in your stable?

¹⁰Can you hold one with a rope and make him plough?

Or make him pull a harrow in your fields?

¹¹Can you rely on his great strength

and expect him to do your heavy work?

¹²Do you expect him to bring in your harvest

and gather the grain from your threshing place?

¹³How fast the wings of an ostrich beat!

But no ostrich can fly like a stork.^u

¹⁴The ostrich leaves her eggs on the ground

for the heat in the soil to warm them.

¹⁵She is unaware that a foot may crush them

or a wild animal break them.

¹⁶She acts as if the eggs were not hers,

and is unconcerned that her efforts were wasted.

¹⁷It was I who made her foolish

and did not give her wisdom.

¹⁸But when she begins to run,^v

she can laugh at any horse and rider.

¹⁹Was it you, Job, who made horses so strong

and gave them their flowing manes?

²⁰Did you make them leap like locusts

and frighten people with their snorting?

²¹They eagerly paw the ground in the valley;

they rush into battle with all their strength.

²²They do not know the meaning of fear,

and no sword can turn them back.

²³The weapons which their riders carry

rattle and flash in the sun.

²⁴Trembling with excitement, the horses race ahead;

when the trumpet blows, they can’t stand still.

²⁵At each blast of the trumpet they snort;

they can smell a battle before they get near,

and they hear the officers shouting commands.

²⁶Does a hawk learn from you how to fly

when it spreads its wings towards the south?

²⁷Does an eagle wait for your command

to build its nest high in the mountains?

²⁸It makes its home on the highest rocks

and makes the sharp peaks its fortress.

²⁹From there it watches near and far

for something to kill and eat.

^30*Around dead bodies the eagles gather,

and the young eagles drink the blood.

40Job, you challenged Almighty God;

will you give up now, or will you answer?

^3–4I spoke foolishly, Lord. What can I answer?

I will not try to say anything else.

⁵I have already said more than I should.

⁶Then out of the storm the Lord spoke to Job once again.

⁷Stand up straight now,

and answer my questions.

⁸Are you trying to prove that I am unjust—

to put me in the wrong and yourself in the right?

⁹Are you as strong as I am?

Can your voice thunder as loud as mine?

¹⁰If so, stand up in your honour and pride;

clothe yourself with majesty and glory.

¹¹Look at those who are proud;

pour out your anger and humble them.

¹²Yes, look at them and bring them down;

crush the wicked where they stand.

¹³Bury them all in the ground;

bind them in the world of the dead.

¹⁴Then I will be the first to praise you

and admit that you won the victory yourself.

¹⁵Look at the monster Behemoth;^w

I created him and I created you.

He eats grass like a cow,

¹⁶but what strength there is in his body,

and what power there is in his muscles!

¹⁷His tail stands up like a cedar,

and the muscles in his legs are strong.

¹⁸His bones are as strong as bronze,

and his legs are like iron bars.

¹⁹The most amazing of all my creatures!

Only his Creator can defeat him.

²⁰Grass to feed him grows

on the hills where wild beasts play.^x

²¹He lies down under the thorn bushes,

and hides among the reeds in the swamp.

²²The thorn bushes and the willows by the stream

give him shelter in their shade.

²³He is not afraid of a rushing river;

he is calm when the Jordan dashes in his face.

²⁴Who can blind his eyes and capture him?

Or who can catch his snout in a trap?