Job 39 New King James Version

God Continues to Challenge Job

39 “Do you know the time when the wild ^(A)mountain goats bear young?
Or can you mark when ^(B)the deer gives birth?
²Can you number the months that they fulfill?
Or do you know the time when they bear young?
³They bow down,
They bring forth their young,
They deliver their ^[a]offspring.
⁴Their young ones are healthy,
They grow strong with grain;
They depart and do not return to them.

⁵“Who set the wild donkey free?
Who loosed the bonds of the ^[b]onager,
⁶^(C)Whose home I have made the wilderness,
And the ^[c]barren land his dwelling?
⁷He scorns the tumult of the city;
He does not heed the shouts of the driver.
⁸The range of the mountains is his pasture,
And he searches after ^(D)every green thing.

⁹“Will the ^(E)wild ox be willing to serve you?
Will he bed by your manger?
¹⁰Can you bind the wild ox in the furrow with ropes?
Or will he plow the valleys behind you?
¹¹Will you trust him because his strength is great?
Or will you leave your labor to him?
¹²Will you trust him to bring home your ^[d]grain,
And gather it to your threshing floor?

¹³“The wings of the ostrich wave proudly,
But are her wings and pinions like the kindly stork’s?
¹⁴For she leaves her eggs on the ground,
And warms them in the dust;
¹⁵She forgets that a foot may crush them,
Or that a wild beast may break them.
¹⁶She ^(F)treats her young harshly, as though they were not hers;
Her labor is in vain, without ^[e]concern,
¹⁷Because God deprived her of wisdom,
And did not ^(G)endow her with understanding.
¹⁸When she lifts herself on high,
She scorns the horse and its rider.

¹⁹“Have you given the horse strength?
Have you clothed his neck with ^[f]thunder?
²⁰Can you ^[g]frighten him like a locust?
His majestic snorting strikes terror.
²¹He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength;
^(H)He gallops into the clash of arms.
²²He mocks at fear, and is not frightened;
Nor does he turn back from the sword.
²³The quiver rattles against him,
The glittering spear and javelin.
²⁴He devours the distance with fierceness and rage;
Nor does he come to a halt because the trumpet has sounded.
²⁵At the blast of the trumpet he says, ‘Aha!’
He smells the battle from afar,
The thunder of captains and shouting.

²⁶“Does the hawk fly by your wisdom,
And spread its wings toward the south?
²⁷Does the ^(I)eagle mount up at your command,
And ^(J)make its nest on high?
²⁸On the rock it dwells and resides,
On the crag of the rock and the stronghold.
²⁹From there it spies out the prey;
Its eyes observe from afar.
³⁰Its young ones suck up blood;
And ^(K)where the slain are, there it is.”