Job 39

1Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the deer in labor?

2Do you count the months until they reach full term, and do you know the time when they give birth?

3They crouch down and give birth to their young; they cast off their labor pains.

4Their young grow strong; they grow up in the open country. They go out and do not return to them.

5Who has let the wild donkey go free? Who has untied the bonds of the wild donkey?

6to whom I have given the desert as his home and the salt land as his dwelling places,

7He laughs at the noise of the city; he does not hear the shouts of the driver.

8He ranges over the mountains for his pasture, and he searches for every green thing.

9Will the wild ox be willing to serve you? Will he spend the night at your feeding trough?

10Will you bind the wild ox in the furrow with its rope, or will it harrow the valleys behind you?

11Will you trust him because his strength is great, and leave your labor to him?

12Will you trust him to bring back your grain and gather it to your threshing floor?

13The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully—are they the pinions and plumage of the stork?

14For she leaves her eggs on the ground and warms them on the dust,

15and she forgets that a foot may crush them, and a wild animal may trample them.

16She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers; her labor is in vain, yet she has no fear.

17because God has made her forget wisdom and has not given her a share in understanding.

18When she rises high, she laughs at the horse and its rider.

19Do you give the horse its strength? Do you clothe its neck with a mane?

20Can you make him leap like the locust? The majesty of his snorting is terrifying.

21It paws in the valley and rejoices in its strength; it goes out to meet the weapons.

22He laughs at fear and is not dismayed, and he does not turn back from the sword.

23Over him the quiver rattles, the flashing spear and javelin.

24With fierceness and rage he devours the ground, and he cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet.

25At the blast of the trumpet he says, “Aha!” From far away he smells the battle, the thunder of commanders and the war cry.

26Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars, spreading its wings toward the south?

27Is it at your command that the eagle soars and sets its nest on high?

28He dwells on the cliff and spends the night there, on the tooth of the crag and the stronghold.

29From there he searches out food; his eyes look from far away.

30Its young ones suck up blood, and where the slain are, there it is.