Job Chapter 39 — The Wonders of the Animal Kingdom

¹“Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth?

²Can you count the months that they fulfill?

³They bow themselves. They bear their young.

⁴Their young ones become strong.

⁵“Who has set the wild donkey free?

⁶whose home I have made the wilderness,

⁷He scorns the tumult of the city,

⁸The range of the mountains is his pasture.

⁹“Will the wild ox be content to serve you?

¹⁰Can you hold the wild ox in the furrow with his harness?

¹¹Will you trust him, because his strength is great?

¹²Will you confide in him, that he will bring home your seed,

¹³“The wings of the ostrich wave proudly,

¹⁴For she leaves her eggs on the earth,

¹⁵and forgets that the foot may crush them,

¹⁶She deals harshly with her young ones, as if they were not hers.

¹⁷because God has deprived her of wisdom,

¹⁸When she lifts up herself on high,

¹⁹“Have you given the horse might?

²⁰Have you made him to leap as a locust?

²¹He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength.

²²He mocks at fear, and is not dismayed,

²³The quiver rattles against him,

²⁴He eats up the ground with fierceness and rage,

²⁵As often as the trumpet sounds he snorts, ‘Aha!’

²⁶“Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars,

²⁷Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up,

²⁸On the cliff he dwells and makes his home,

²⁹From there he spies out the prey.

³⁰His young ones also suck up blood.