Job 39, side by side

¹“Do you know when mountain goats give birth? Have you watched the doe bear her fawn?

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

²Can you count the months they are pregnant? Do you know the time they give birth?

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

³They crouch down and bring forth their young; they deliver their newborn.

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

⁴Their young ones thrive and grow up in the open field; they leave and do not return.

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

⁵Who set the wild donkey free? Who released the swift donkey from the harness?

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

⁶I made the wilderness his home and the salt flats his dwelling.

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

⁷He scorns the tumult of the city and never hears the shouts of a driver.

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

⁸He roams the mountains for pasture, searching for any green thing.

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

⁹Will the wild ox consent to serve you? Will he stay by your manger at night?

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

¹⁰Can you hold him to the furrow with a harness? Will he plow the valleys behind you?

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

¹¹Can you rely on his great strength? Will you leave your hard work to him?

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

¹²Can you trust him to bring in your grain and gather it to your threshing floor?

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

¹³The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, but cannot match the pinions and feathers of the stork.

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

¹⁴For she leaves her eggs on the ground and lets them warm in the sand.

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

¹⁵She forgets that a foot may crush them, or a wild animal may trample them.

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

¹⁶She treats her young harshly, as if not her own, with no concern that her labor was in vain.

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

¹⁷For God has deprived her of wisdom; He has not endowed her with understanding.

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

¹⁸Yet when she proudly spreads her wings, she laughs at the horse and its rider.

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

¹⁹Do you give strength to the horse or adorn his neck with a mane?

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

²⁰Do you make him leap like a locust, striking terror with his proud snorting?

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

²¹He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength; he charges into battle.

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

²²He laughs at fear, frightened of nothing; he does not turn back from the sword.

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

²³A quiver rattles at his side, along with a flashing spear and lance.

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

²⁴Trembling with excitement, he devours the distance; he cannot stand still when the ram’s horn sounds.

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

²⁵At 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.

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

²⁶Does the hawk take flight by your understanding and spread his wings toward the south?

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

²⁷Does the eagle soar at your command and make his nest on high?

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

²⁸He dwells on a cliff and lodges there; his stronghold is on a rocky crag.

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

²⁹From there he spies out food; his eyes see it from afar.

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

³⁰His young ones feast on blood; and where the slain are, there he is.”

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