Job 39
EasyEnglish Bible
God continues to ask Job questions[a]
39 ‘Job, do you know that time when the goats on the mountains give birth?
Do you watch the wild deer when their babies are born?
2 Can you count the number of months that these animals are pregnant?
How long must they wait until they give birth?
3 They bend down low to the ground.
They give birth to the babies that they have carried inside them.
4 The young animals grow
and they become strong in the fields.
Then they leave their parents
and they do not return to them.
5 Did you send out the wild donkeys
to go wherever they want?
6 No! It was me who gave them the desert as their home.
I let them live in places where the ground has salt.
7 They stay far away from the busy cities.
They do not allow anyone to make them work.
8 Instead, they live on the hills,
where they find fresh plants to eat.
9 Can you tell a wild ox to work for you?
No! At night, it will not stay to feed at your farm.
10 It will not let you tie it to a plough.
It will not agree to prepare your fields in the valleys.
11 A wild ox is very strong.
But you cannot trust it to help you with your difficult work.
12 It will not help you to bring in your harvest of grain.
It will not take the grain to your threshing floor.
13 When an ostrich is happy,
it waves its wings.
But it cannot use its wings to fly,
as a stork can do.
14 A mother ostrich leaves her eggs on the ground.
She lets the sand cause them to be warm.
15 She does not realize that people or wild animals
might break the eggs with their feet.
16 She does not take care of her babies,
as if they did not belong to her.
She does not worry that all her work might be useless.
17 This is because I did not give wisdom to ostriches.
I did not give them minds that understand things.
18 But when an ostrich begins to run,
it can run very fast.
It can run faster than a horse
and someone who rides on it.
19 Did you, Job, give horses their strength?
Did you give them the long hair that they have on their necks?
20 You did not make horses able to jump like locusts.
They frighten people when they blow air out through their noses.
21 They stamp their feet on the ground,
as they prepare to go to a battle.
They are ready to go and attack the enemy.
22 A horse is brave and it is not afraid of anything.
It does not run away from the enemy's weapons.
23 The soldier who is riding it
has his arrows ready at the horse's side.
Swords and spears shine brightly in the sun.
24 The horse shakes with joy
as it runs to the battle.
When the battle trumpet makes its noise,
the horse wants to run even faster![b]
25 When it hears the sound of the trumpet,
it makes a happy noise.
From far away, it recognizes the smell of the battle.
It hears the army officers as they shout their commands.
26 Was it your wisdom, Job, that taught hawks how to fly?
No! You could not teach them to fly towards the south in winter.
27 Do eagles wait for your command
to fly high into the sky?
No! You could not teach them how to build their nests
high up in the mountains.
28 They live among the highest rocks.
That is where they stay at night.
They are safe on the sharp rocks.
29 From the high rocks,
eagles look for their food.
They see small animals far away,
that they can catch and eat.
30 They come together around the bodies of dead animals.
The young eagles drink the blood.’
Footnotes
- 39:1 God continues to ask Job questions. He knows that Job must answer ‘No’ to these questions. Job does not know everything about all the animals that God has made and how they live. God is showing Job that he, God, is the one who knows about all these things. So God knows what is good and right.
- 39:24 A soldier would make a noise with a trumpet when the battle was ready to start. Then all the soldiers would know that it was the time for them to attack their enemy.
Job 39
Reina Valera Contemporánea
39 »¿Sabes tú cuándo paren las cabras del monte?
¿Has visto acaso nacer a los cervatillos?
2 ¿Sabes cuántos meses dura su preñez,
y cuándo los cervatos tienen que nacer?
3 Para que nazcan, la cierva se encorva,
y en cuando nace su cría se calma su dolor.
4 Y los cervatos crecen, y se hacen fuertes,
y se apartan de la madre para nunca volver.
5 »¿Quién ha criado libre al asno montés?
¿Quién lo liberó de sus ataduras?
6 Fui yo quien lo hizo habitar en la soledad,
quien le dio el páramo por hábitat.
7 La ciudad y sus tumultos le resultan divertidos;
no sabe obedecer los gritos de los arrieros.
8 Busca pastos en los altos montes,
y hace de toda hierba su alimento.
9 »¿Y acaso el búfalo querrá servirte?
¿Se quedará tranquilo en tu pesebre?
10 ¿Podrás ponerle un yugo para trabajar la tierra?
¿Hará surcos en el valle porque se lo mandas tú?
11 ¿Podrás confiar en su gran fuerza?
¿Crees que puedes confiarle tus labores?
12 ¿Podrás encargarle que recoja tu semilla,
y que la amontone en tu granero?
13 »El avestruz agita su bello plumaje,
que no es tan bello como el del pavo real.
14 Pone huevos, y luego los abandona,
y los deja calentar bajo el polvo de la tierra.
15 No le importa que alguien los aplaste,
ni que las bestias del campo los destrocen.
16 Es cruel con sus polluelos, como si no fueran suyos,
no piensa que su trabajo pudo haber sido en vano.
17 Y es que yo no lo doté de sabiduría;
tampoco lo doté de gran inteligencia,
18 ¡pero en cuanto emprende la carrera
se burla del caballo y de su jinete!
19 »¿Acaso tú dotaste al caballo de su fuerza?
¿Cubriste acaso su cuello de ondulantes crines?
20 ¿Puedes asustarlo, como si fuera una langosta?
¡Si un resoplido suyo asusta a cualquiera!
21 Tan fuerte es que escarba el suelo con sus cascos,
y así se apresta a entrar en combate.
22 Nada le espanta, a nada le teme,
ni se arredra ante la espada.
23 Suenan a su lado las flechas en la aljaba,
brillan las lanzas, chocan las jabalinas,
24 pero él, impetuoso, escarba la tierra,
sin que le asusten los toques de trompeta.
25 Más bien, el sonido del clarín lo excita,
y a la distancia percibe los olores del combate,
el griterío y las órdenes de ataque.
26 »¿Acaso por órdenes tuyas vuela el gavilán,
y tiende el vuelo para dirigirse al sur?
27 ¿Acaso por mandato tuyo se remonta el águila,
y pone su nido en lo alto de las rocas?
28 Su nido se halla en los altos montes,
en la punto de los más altos peñascos.
29 Con sus dos potentes ojos,
desde lejos acecha a su presa,
30 y alimenta a sus polluelos con la sangre de su presa.
“Donde hay un cadáver, hay un águila.”»
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