Open English Translation JOB Chapter 39

39 Do you know when it is that mountain goats give birth?

≈Do you watch the wild does having their fawns?

2 Have you counted how many months it’ll be after they conceived?

Do you know what date they’ll give birth?

3 They crouch down to deliver their young,

≈and then their labour pains are over.

4 Their young grow up in the countryside and become strong,

≈then they leave their mothers and don’t return to them again.

5 Who set the wild donkeys free?

≈Who untied the ropes of the wild mule?

6 I decided that the wilderness would be their home,

≈and the salt-land to be where they live.

7 They laugh at the commotion coming from the city.

They don’t have any drivers shouting at them.

8 They range across the hills looking for pasture,

≈and search after anything that’s green.

9 Will the wild cow consent to serve you,

≈or to stay the night beside your feeding trough?

10 Will you use a rope to guide the wild bull to plough straight,

≈or will he come along afterwards to harrow over the furrows?

11 Would you trust in his strength,

and leave your work for him to do?

12 Would you depend on the wild bull to bring in your grain,

and to pile it on your threshing floor?

13 Ostriches happily flap their wings,

but unlike the stork, their joints and feathers aren’t made for flying.

14 The female leaves her eggs on the ground.

≈They’re kept warm in the dust.

15 She forgets that they might be crushed by a foot,

≈or be trampled by wild animals.

16 She’s harsh on her young as if they’re not hers,

≈without worrying that her egg-laying might all be wasted.

17 Yes, God didn’t give her much wisdom,

≈and he didn’t fill her with much understanding.

18 But it doesn’t stop her flapping her wings.

She laughs at the horse and its rider.

19 Was it you who gave the horse his strength?

Did you clothe his neck with that mane?

20 Did you make him so he can leap like a locust?

His powerful snorting is terrifying.

21 They paw at the ground, excited to go and display their strength.

Off they go to face the enemy’s weapons.

22 It laughs at fear—not afraid at all,

and it doesn’t retreat back from the sword.

23 The quiver of arrows rattles on its side.

≈The spear and the javelin flash.

24 Shaking with excitement, it speeds over.

≈It can’t stand still once the horn is sounded.

25 When it hears the horn, it snorts ready to go,

and it smells the battle from far away—

the shouts of the commanders and the battle-cries.

26 Is it your wisdom that the hawk uses to soar,

≈and why it spreads its wings to migrate south?

27 Is it your command that sends the eagle flying upwards,

≈and tells it to build it nest up so high?

28 It lives on a cliff,

≈and spends the night in its fortress among the sharp rocks.

29 From there, it spies out food.

≈Its eyes watch from far away.

30 Its young ones feast on blood,[ref]

and where there’s dead bodies, they’ll be there.

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