Job 39–40

39“Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?

Do you watch when the deer gives birth to her fawn?

²Do you count the months until they give birth

and know the right time for them to give birth?

³They lie down, their young are born,

and then the pain of giving birth is over.

⁴Their young ones grow big and strong in the wild country.

Then they leave their homes and do not return.

⁵“Who let the wild donkey go free?

Who untied its ropes?

⁶I am the one who gave the donkey the desert as its home;

I gave it the desert lands as a place to live.

⁷The wild donkey laughs at the confusion in the city,

and it does not hear the drivers shout.

⁸It roams the hills looking for pasture,

looking for anything green to eat.

⁹“Will the wild ox agree to serve you

and stay by your feeding box at night?

¹⁰Can you hold it to the plowed row with a harness

so it will plow the valleys for you?

¹¹Will you depend on the wild ox for its great strength

and leave your heavy work for it to do?

¹²Can you trust the ox to bring in your grain

and gather it to your threshing floor?

¹³“The wings of the ostrich flap happily,

but they are not like the feathers of the stork.

¹⁴The ostrich lays its eggs on the ground

and lets them warm in the sand.

¹⁵It does not stop to think that a foot might step on them and crush them;

it does not care that some animal might walk on them.

¹⁶The ostrich is cruel to its young, as if they were not even its own.

It does not care that its work is for nothing,

¹⁷because God did not give the ostrich wisdom;

God did not give it a share of good sense.

¹⁸But when the ostrich gets up to run, it is so fast

that it laughs at the horse and its rider.

¹⁹“Job, are you the one who gives the horse its strength

or puts a flowing mane on its neck?

²⁰Do you make the horse jump like a locust?

It scares people with its proud snorting.

²¹It paws wildly, enjoying its strength,

and charges into battle.

²²It laughs at fear and is afraid of nothing;

it does not run away from the sword.

²³The bag of arrows rattles against the horse’s side,

along with the flashing spears and swords.

²⁴With great excitement, the horse races over the ground;

and it cannot stand still when it hears the trumpet.

²⁵When the trumpet blows, the horse snorts, ‘Aha!’

It smells the battle from far away;

it hears the shouts of commanders and the battle cry.

²⁶“Is it through your wisdom that the hawk flies

and spreads its wings toward the south?

²⁷Are you the one that commands the eagle to fly

and build its nest so high?

²⁸It lives on a high cliff and stays there at night;

the rocky peak is its protected place.

²⁹From there it looks for its food;

its eyes can see it from far away.

³⁰Its young eat blood,

and where there is something dead, the eagle is there.”

40The Lord said to Job:

²“Will the person who argues with the Almighty correct him?

Let the person who accuses God answer him.”

³Then Job answered the Lord:

⁴“I am not worthy; I cannot answer you anything,

so I will put my hand over my mouth.

⁵I spoke one time, but I will not answer again;

I even spoke two times, but I will say nothing more.”

⁶Then the Lord spoke to Job from the storm:

⁷“Be strong, like a man!

I will ask you questions,

and you must answer me.

⁸Would you say that I am unfair?

Would you blame me to make yourself look right?

⁹Are you as strong as God?

Can your voice thunder like his?

¹⁰If so, then decorate yourself with glory and beauty;

dress in honor and greatness as if they were clothing.

¹¹Let your great anger punish;

look at the proud and bring them down.

¹²Look at the proud and make them humble.

Crush the wicked wherever they are.

¹³Bury them all in the dirt together;

cover their faces in the grave.

¹⁴If you can do that, then I myself will praise you,

because you are strong enough to save yourself.

¹⁵“Look at Behemoth, ⁿ

which I made just as I made you.

It eats grass like an ox.

¹⁶Look at the strength it has in its body;

the muscles of its stomach are powerful.

¹⁷Its tail is like a cedar tree;

the muscles of its thighs are woven together.

¹⁸Its bones are like tubes of bronze;

its legs are like bars of iron.

¹⁹It is one of the first of God’s works,

but its Maker can destroy it.

²⁰The hills, where the wild animals play,

provide food for it.

²¹It lies under the lotus plants,

hidden by the tall grass in the swamp.

²²The lotus plants hide it in their shadow;

the poplar trees by the streams surround it.

²³If the river floods, it will not be afraid;

it is safe even if the Jordan River rushes to its mouth.

²⁴Can anyone blind its eyes and capture it?

Can anyone put hooks in its nose?