39:1 “Do you know the time the ①mountain goats give birth?
Do you observe the calving of the deer?
▷ ①Lit goats of the rock
39:2 Can you count the months they fulfill,
Or do you know the time they give birth?
39:3 They kneel down, they deliver their young,
They get rid of their labor pains.
39:4 Their offspring become strong, they grow up in the open field;
They leave and do not return to them.
39:5 “Who sent the wild donkey out free?
And who opened the bonds of the swift donkey,
39:6 To whom I gave the wilderness as his home,
And the salt land as his dwelling place?
39:7 He laughs at the turmoil of the city,
He does not hear the shouting of the taskmaster.
39:8 He explores the mountains of his pasture,
And searches after every green thing.
39:9 Will the wild bull be willing to serve you,
Or will he spend the night at your feeding trough?
39:10 Can you tie down the wild bull in a furrow with ①ropes,
Or will he ②plow the valleys after you?
▷ ①Lit his rope ②I.e., pull a harrow, a farming device
39:11 Will you trust him because his strength is great,
And leave your labor to him?
39:12 Will you have faith in him that he will return your ①grain
And gather it from your threshing floor?
▷ ①Lit seed
39:13 “The wings of the ostrich flap joyously,
With the pinion and feathers of ①love,
▷ ①Or a stork
39:14 For she abandons her eggs to the earth
And warms them in the dust,
39:15 And she forgets that a foot may crush ①them,
Or that a wild animal may trample ②them.
▷ ①Lit it ②Lit it
39:16 She treats her young cruelly, as if they were not hers;
Though her labor is for nothing, she is ①unconcerned,
▷ ①Lit without fear
39:17 Because God has made her forget wisdom,
And has not given her a share of understanding.
39:18 When she rushes away on high,
She laughs at the horse and his rider.
39:19 “Do you give the horse his might?
Do you clothe his neck with a mane?
39:20 Do you make him leap like locusts?
His majestic snorting is frightening.
39:21 ①He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength;
He goes out to meet the battle.
▷ ①Lit They paw
39:22 He laughs at fear and is not dismayed;
And he does not turn back from the sword.
39:23 The quiver rattles against him,
The flashing spear and javelin.
39:24 He ①races over the ground with a roar and fury,
And he does not stand still when he hears the sound of the trumpet.
▷ ①Lit swallows up
39:25 As often as the trumpet sounds he says, ‘Aha!’
And he senses the battle from afar,
And the thunder of the captains and the war cry.
39:26 “Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars,
Stretching his wings toward the south?
39:27 Is it at your ①command that the eagle flies high,
And makes his nest on high?
▷ ①Lit mouth
39:28 He dwells and spends his nights on the cliff,
On the rocky cliff, an inaccessible place.
39:29 From there he tracks food;
His eyes look at it from afar.
39:30 His young ones also lick up blood greedily;
And where the slain are, there he is.”