Job 39:1–30

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