Job 39 — AAB
The LORD Speaks of His Creation
39Verse 1“Do you know when mountain goats give birth?Have you watched the doe bear her fawn?Verse 2Can you count the months they are pregnant?Do you know the time they give birth?Verse 3They crouch down and bring forth their young;they deliver their newborn.Verse 4Their young ones thrive and grow up in the open field;they leave and do not return.Verse 5Who set the wild donkey free?Who released the swift donkey from the harness?Verse 6I made the wilderness his homeand the salt flats his dwelling.Verse 7He scorns the tumult of the cityand never hears the shouts of a driver.Verse 8He roams the mountains for pasture,searching for any green thing.Verse 9Will the wild ox consent to serve you?Will he stay by your manger at night?Verse 10Can you hold him to the furrow with a harness?Will he plow the valleys behind you?Verse 11Can you rely on his great strength?Will you leave your hard work to him?Verse 12Can you trust him to bring in your grainand gather it to your threshing floor?Verse 13The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully,but cannot match the pinions+and feathers of the stork.Verse 14For she leaves her eggs on the groundand lets them warm in the sand.Verse 15She forgets that a foot may crush them,or a wild animal may trample them.Verse 16She treats her young harshly, as if not her own,with no concern that her labor was in vain.Verse 17For God has deprived her of wisdom;He has not endowed her with understanding.Verse 18Yet when she proudly spreads her wings,she laughs at the horse and its rider.Verse 19Do you give strength to the horseor adorn his neck with a mane?Verse 20Do you make him leap like a locust,striking terror with his proud snorting?Verse 21He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength;he charges into battle.Verse 22He laughs at fear, frightened of nothing;he does not turn back from the sword.Verse 23A quiver rattles at his side,along with a flashing spear and lance.+Verse 24Trembling with excitement, he devours the distance;he cannot stand still when the ram’s horn sounds.Verse 25At the blast of the horn, he snorts with fervor.+He catches the scent of battle from afar,the shouts of captains and the cry of war.Verse 26Does the hawk take flight by your understandingand spread his wings toward the south?Verse 27Does the eagle soar at your commandand make his nest on high?Verse 28He dwells on a cliff and lodges there;his stronghold is on a rocky crag.Verse 29From there he spies out food;his eyes see it from afar.Verse 30His young ones feast on blood;and where the slain are, there he is.”