Job 39:1–30

¹“Do you know the time the ^1amountain goats give birth?

Do you keep watch over the calving of the ^bdeer?

²“Can you count the months they fulfill,

Or do you know the time they give birth?

³“They kneel down; they bring forth their young;

They send out their labor pains.

⁴“Their children become strong; they grow up in the open field;

They leave and do not return to them.

⁵“Who sent out the ^awild donkey free?

And who loosed the bonds of the swift donkey,

⁶For whom I have set ^athe desert plain as a home

And the salt land as his dwelling place?

⁷“He laughs at the tumult of the city;

The shoutings of the driver he does not hear.

⁸“He explores the mountains for his pasture

And searches after every green thing.

⁹“Will the ^awild ox consent to serve you,

Or will he spend the night at your manger?

¹⁰“Can you bind the wild ox in a furrow with ¹ropes,

Or will he harrow the valleys after you?

¹¹“Will you trust him because his power is great

And leave your labor to him?

¹²“Will you believe him that he will return your seed of grain

And gather it from your threshing floor?

¹³“The ostriches’ wings flap joyously

But are they the pinion and plumage of a ¹stork?

¹⁴For she leaves her eggs to the earth

And warms them in the dust,

¹⁵And she forgets that a foot may crush ¹them,

Or that a beast of the field may trample ²them.

¹⁶“She treats her children ^acruelly, as if they were not hers;

Though her labor be empty, she is without dread,

¹⁷Because God has made her forget wisdom,

And has not given her a share of understanding.

¹⁸“When she raises herself up high,

She laughs at the horse and his rider.

¹⁹“Do you give the horse his might?

Do you clothe his neck with a mane?

²⁰“Do you make him ^aleap like the locust?

His splendid ^bsnorting is terrible.

²¹“¹He paws in the valley and rejoices in his power;

He ^agoes out to meet the weapons.

²²“He laughs at dread and is not dismayed;

And he does not turn back from the sword.

²³“The quiver rattles against him,

The flashing spear and javelin.

²⁴“With shaking and rage he ¹races over the ground,

And he does not ²stand still at the sound of the trumpet.

²⁵“As often as the trumpet sounds he says, ‘Aha!’

And he scents the battle from afar,

And the thunder of the commanders and the shout of war.

²⁶“Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars,

Stretching his wings toward the south?

²⁷“Is it at your ¹command that the eagle goes on high

And raises ^ahis nest high?

²⁸“On the cliff he dwells and lodges,

Upon the rocky crag, a fortress.

²⁹“From there he ^1aspies out food;

His eyes see it from afar.

³⁰“His young ones also suck up blood;

And ^awhere the slain are, there is he.”