Job 39–40

39“Do you know the time when the goats of the rocks give birth?

Do you observe the doe deer’s giving birth?

²Can you number the months they fulfill,

and do you know the time of its giving birth?

³When they crouch, they bring forth their young ones;

they get rid of their labor pains.^a

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

they go forth and do not return to them.

⁵“Who has sent forth the wild ass free?

And who has released the wild donkey’s bonds,

⁶to which I have given the wilderness as its house

and the salt flat as its dwelling place?

⁷It scorns the city’s turmoil;

it does not hear the driver’s shouts.

⁸It explores the mountains as its pasture

and searches after every kind of green plant.

⁹“Is the wild ox willing to serve you,

or will he spend the night at your feeding trough?

¹⁰Can you tie the wild ox with its rope to a furrow,

or will it harrow the valleys after you?

¹¹Can you trust it because its strength is great,

or will you hand your labor over to it?

¹²Can you rely on it that it will return your grain

and that it will gather it to your threshing floor?

¹³“The wings^b of the female ostrich flap^c—

are they^d the pinions of the stork or^e the falcon?

¹⁴Indeed, it leaves its eggs to the earth,

and it lets them be warmed on the ground,

¹⁵and it forgets that a foot might crush an egg,^f

and a wild animal^g might trample it.^h

¹⁶It deals cruelly with its young ones, as if they were not its own,

as if without fear that its labor were in vain,

¹⁷because God made it forget wisdom,

and he did not give it a share in understanding.

¹⁸When it spreads its wings aloft,ⁱ

it laughs at the horse and its rider.

¹⁹“Do you give power to the horse?

Do you clothe its neck with a mane?

²⁰Do you make it leap like the locust?

The majesty of its snorting is terrifying.

²¹They paw in the valley, and it exults with strength;

it goes out to meet the battle.

²²It laughs at danger and is not dismayed,

and it does not turn back from before^j the sword.

²³Upon it the quiver rattles

along with the flash of the spear and the short sword.

²⁴With roar and rage it races over the ground,^k

and it cannot stand still at the sound of the horn.

²⁵Whenever^l a horn sounds, it says, ‘Aha!’

And it smells the battle from a distance—

the thunder of the commanders and the war cry.

²⁶“Does the hawk soar by your wisdom?

Does it spread its wings to the south?

²⁷Or does the eagle fly high at your command

and construct its nest high?

²⁸It lives on the rock and spends the night

on the rock point and the mountain stronghold.^m

²⁹From there it spies out the prey;

its eyes look from far away.

³⁰And its young ones lick blood greedily,

and where the dead carcasses are, there they are.”

40Then^a Yahweh answered Job and said,

²“Shall a faultfinder contend with Shaddai?

Anyone who argues with God must answer it.”

Job Responds to Yahweh

³So Job answered Yahweh and said,

⁴“Look, I am insignificant.

What shall I answer you?

I lay my hand on my mouth.

⁵Once I have spoken, and I will not answer;

even^b twice, but^c I will not proceed.”

Yahweh Challenges Job Again

⁶Then^d Yahweh answered Job from the storm, and he said,

⁷“Prepare yourself for a difficult task like a man,^e

and I will question you, and you shall declare to me.

Yahweh Interrogates Job Again

⁸“Indeed, would you annul my justice?

Would you condemn me, so that you might be righteous?

⁹Or do you have an arm like God,

and can you thunder with a voice like his?

¹⁰Adorn^f yourself with pride and dignity,

and clothe yourself with splendor.

¹¹Pour out the overflowing of your anger,

and look at all the proud, and humble them.

¹²Look at all the proud, humble them,

and tread down the wicked where they stand.^g

¹³Hide them in the dust together;

bind their faces in the grave.

¹⁴And I will also praise you,

that your own right hand can save you.

¹⁵“Look, Behemoth,^h which I have made just as I made you;

it eats grass like the ox.

¹⁶Look, its strength is in its loins

and its power in the muscles of its stomach.

¹⁷It keeps its tail straight like a cedar;

the sinews of its thighs are tightly wound.

¹⁸Its bones are tubes of copper,

its limbs like rods of iron.

¹⁹“It is the first of God’s actions;

the one who made him furnishes it with his sword.ⁱ

²⁰Yes, the mountains yield produce for it,

and all wild animals^j play there.

²¹Under the lotus tree it lies,

in the hiding place of the reeds and in the marsh.

²²The lotus trees cover it with their shade;

the wadi’s^k poplar trees surround it.

²³Look, if the river is turbulent, it is not frightened;

it is confident even though the Jordan rushes against its mouth.

²⁴Can anyone take it by its eyes?

Can he pierce its nose with a snare?