Job 39
- “Do you know the time when the wild mountain goats bear young? Or can you mark when the deer gives birth?
- Can you number the months that they fulfill? Or do you know the time when they bear young?
- They bow down, They bring forth their young, They deliver their offspring.
- Their young ones are healthy, They grow strong with grain; They depart and do not return to them.
- “Who set the wild donkey free? Who loosed the bonds of the onager,
- Whose home I have made the wilderness, And the barren land his dwelling?
- He scorns the tumult of the city; He does not heed the shouts of the driver.
- The range of the mountains is his pasture, And he searches after every green thing.
- “Will the wild ox be willing to serve you? Will he bed by your manger?
- Can you bind the wild ox in the furrow with ropes? Or will he plow the valleys behind you?
- Will you trust him because his strength is great? Or will you leave your labor to him?
- Will you trust him to bring home your grain, And gather it to your threshing floor?
- “The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, But are her wings and pinions like the kindly stork’s?
- For she leaves her eggs on the ground, And warms them in the dust;
- She forgets that a foot may crush them, Or that a wild beast may break them.
- She treats her young harshly, as though they were not hers; Her labor is in vain, without concern,
- Because God deprived her of wisdom, And did not endow her with understanding.
- When she lifts herself on high, She scorns the horse and its rider.
- “Have you given the horse strength? Have you clothed his neck with thunder?
- Can you frighten him like a locust? His majestic snorting strikes terror.
- He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength; He gallops into the clash of arms.
- He mocks at fear, and is not frightened; Nor does he turn back from the sword.
- The quiver rattles against him, The glittering spear and javelin.
- He devours the distance with fierceness and rage; Nor does he come to a halt because the trumpet has sounded.
- At the blast of the trumpet he says, ‘Aha!’ He smells the battle from afar, The thunder of captains and shouting.
- “Does the hawk fly by your wisdom, And spread its wings toward the south?
- Does the eagle mount up at your command, And make its nest on high?
- On the rocks it dwells and resides, On the crag of the rock and the stronghold.
- From there it spies out the prey; Its eyes observe from afar.
- Its young ones suck up blood; And where the slain are, there it is.”