Job 39

Modern English Version

39 “Do you know the time when the wild mountain goats produce offspring?
    Or can you observe when the deer gives birth?
² Can you number the months that they fulfill,
    or do you know the time when they bring forth?
³ They bow themselves, they bring forth their young ones,
    they get rid of their labor pains.
⁴ Their young ones are healthy, they grow strong with grain;
    they go forth and do not return to them.

⁵ “Who has sent out the wild donkey free?
    Or who has loosed the bands of the wild donkey,
⁶ whose home I have made the wilderness,
    and the barren land his dwelling?
⁷ He scorns the multitude in the city
    and does not regard the shouts of the driver.
⁸ The range of the mountains is his pasture,
    and he searches after every green thing.

⁹ “Will the wild ox be willing to serve you
    or spend the night by your manger?
¹⁰ Can you bind the wild ox in the furrow with ropes?
    Or will he plow the valleys behind you?
¹¹ Will you trust him because his strength is great?
    Or will you leave your labor to him?
¹² Will you trust him to bring home your grain
    and gather it into your barn?

¹³ “Did you give the beautiful wings to the peacocks?
    Or wings and feathers to the ostrich,
¹⁴ who leaves her eggs in the earth,
    and warms them in dust,
¹⁵ and forgets that a foot may crush them,
    or that the wild beast may break them?
¹⁶ She is hardened against her young ones,
    as though they were not hers;
    her labor is in vain, without concern,
¹⁷ because God has deprived her of wisdom,
    nor has He imparted understanding to her.
¹⁸ When she lifts up herself on high,
    she scorns the horse and his rider.

¹⁹ “Have you given the horse strength?
    Have you clothed his neck with thunder?
²⁰ Can you make him afraid like a grasshopper?
    The glory of his nostrils is awesome.
²¹ He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength;
    he goes on to meet the armed men.
²² He mocks at fear and is not frightened,
    nor does he turn back from the sword.
²³ The quiver rattles against him,
    the glittering spear and the shield.
²⁴ He devours the distance with fierceness and rage,
    and he does not stand still at the sound of the trumpet.
²⁵ At the sound of the trumpet he says, ‘Aha’;
    he smells the battle afar off,
    the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

²⁶ “Does the hawk fly by your wisdom,
    and stretch her wings toward the south?
²⁷ Does the eagle mount up at your command
    and make her nest on high?
²⁸ She dwells and remains on the rock,
    upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place.
²⁹ From there she seeks the prey,
    and her eyes see it from afar.
³⁰ Her young ones also suck up blood,
    and where the slain are, there she is.”