Job 39
1 “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch the does when they have their young?
2 Do you count the months they carry them? Do you know when they give birth?
3 They crouch down, deliver their young, and are freed from their labor pains.
4 Their young grow strong and thrive in the open country; they go out and do not return to them.
5 Who set the wild donkey free? Who loosed the bonds of the desert donkey?
6 I made the wilderness its home, and the salt land its dwelling place.
7 It laughs at the noise of the city and does not hear the shouts of the driver.
8 It ranges the mountains for pasture and searches for every kind of green growth.
9 Will the wild ox agree to serve you? Will it spend the night beside your feeding trough?
10 Can you tie the wild ox to the furrow with a rope? Will it harrow the valleys behind you?”
11 “Will you rely on it because its strength is great? Will you leave your heavy work to it?
12 Will you trust it to bring back your seed and gather your harvest?
13 Does the ostrich’s wing beat joyfully, or does it have the pinions and plumage of a stork?
14 It leaves its eggs on the ground and warms them in the dust.
15 It forgets that a foot may crush them and that a wild animal may trample them.
16 It treats its young harshly, as though they were not its own; its labor is in vain, and it has no fear.
17 For God made it forget wisdom and gave it no share in understanding.
18 When it rises high, it laughs at the horse and its rider.
19 Did you give the horse its strength? Did you clothe its neck with a mane?
20 Did you make it leap like a locust? The majesty of its snorting is terrifying.”
21 “It paws in the valley and rejoices in its strength; it charges out to meet the weapons.
22 It laughs at fear and is not frightened; it does not turn back from the sword.
23 The quiver rattles over it, along with the flashing spear and javelin.
24 With trembling and fury it devours the ground; it does not believe the trumpet is sounding.
25 At each blast of the trumpet it cries, ‘Aha!’ From far away it scents the battle, the thunder of the commanders and the war cry.
26 Is it by your understanding that the falcon soars and spreads its wings toward the south?
27 Is it at your command that the eagle rises high and builds its nest on high?
28 It lives on the rock and spends the night there, on the rocky crag and the stronghold.
29 From there it searches for food; its eyes see from far away.
30 Its young drink blood; wherever the slain are, there it is.”
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