Job, 39

1. Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? [or] canst thou mark when the hinds do calve?

1. Do you know how mountain goats breed? Have you observed the hinds in labor,

2. Canst thou number the months [that] they fulfil? or knowest thou the time when they bring forth?

2. numbered the months they must fulfill, and fixed the time they must give birth?

3. They bow themselves, they bring forth their young ones, they cast out their sorrows.

3. Have you watched them end their labor as they crouch and drop their young,

4. Their young ones are in good liking, they grow up with corn; they go forth, and return not unto them.

4. how they wait for them to grow, until they leave never to return?

5. Who hath sent out the wild ass free? or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass?

5. Who has given the wild ass his freedom, and loosed the bonds of the wild donkey?

6. Whose house I have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings.

6. I have given him the desert for a home, the salt plains for a shelter.

7. He scorneth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver.

7. For he scorns the city's tumult, and is free of the driver's shout and insult;

8. The range of the mountains [is] his pasture, and he searcheth after every green thing.

8. he prefers the hills for his pasture, ranging for food in the rich verdure.

9. Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib?

9. Is the wild ox willing to serve you, to pass the night by your manger?

10. Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee?

10. Can you make him work with a plow or harrow if you provide him with the proper gear?

11. Wilt thou trust him, because his strength [is] great? or wilt thou leave thy labour to him?

11. Can you rely on his great strength and leave him to do your heavy work?

12. Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather [it into] thy barn?

12. Can you depend on him to come home alone, carrying your grain to your threshing floor?

13. [Gavest thou] the goodly wings unto the peacocks? or wings and feathers unto the ostrich?

13. Can the wing of the ostrich be compared with the plumage of the stork or falcon?

14. Which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in dust,

14. She lays her eggs on the ground and lets them warm in the sand,

15. And forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them.

15. not knowing that a foot may step on them or some wild beast may crush them.

16. She is hardened against her young ones, as though [they were] not hers: her labour is in vain without fear;

16. Cruel to her chicks as if they were not hers, she cares not that her labor be in vain,

17. Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding.

17. for God has given her no wisdom nor a share of good sense.

18. What time she lifteth up herself on high, she scorneth the horse and his rider.

18. Yet in the swiftness of foot, she makes sport of horse and rider.

19. Hast thou given the horse strength? hast thou clothed his neck with thunder?

19. Is it you who give the horse strength and clothe his neck with splendor,

20. Canst thou make him afraid as a grasshopper? the glory of his nostrils [is] terrible.

20. who make him leap like a grasshopper and his proud snorting strike terror?

21. He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in [his] strength: he goeth on to meet the armed men.

21. Rejoicing in his strength, he fiercely paws and charges into the fray,

22. He mocketh at fear, and is not affrighted; neither turneth he back from the sword.

22. afraid of nothing, laughing at fear, not shying away from the sword.

23. The quiver rattleth against him, the glittering spear and the shield.

23. Against his side rattles the quiver, along with the lance and flashing spear.

24. He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage: neither believeth he that [it is] the sound of the trumpet.

24. In frenzied excitement he eats up the ground; there is no holding him when the trumpets sound.

25. He saith among the trumpets, Ha, ha; and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

25. He cries "Hurrah!" at each trumpet blast. He catches the scent of battle from afar, the shout of commanders and the battle cry.

26. Doth the hawk fly by thy wisdom, [and] stretch her wings toward the south?

26. Is it by your wisdom that the hawk takes flight and spreads his wings toward the south?

27. Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make her nest on high?

27. Is it at your command that eagles fly and build their nests on high?

28. She dwelleth and abideth on the rock, upon the crag of the rock, and the strong place.

28. They dwell on cliffs and spend the night; their stronghold is the rocky crag.

29. From thence she seeketh the prey, [and] her eyes behold afar off.

29. From there they look out for food, which they detect even from afar.

30. Her young ones also suck up blood: and where the slain [are], there [is] she.

30. They and their young feast on blood, and where the slain lie, there they are.