Job 39
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 39
The Mountain Goat and the Deer
1 “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?
Have you ever observed deer in labor?
2 Can you accurately number the months that they carry their young
or know the time of their delivery
3 when they crouch down to give birth
and deliver their offspring?
4 Once their fawns grow strong and become independent,
they go forth on their own and do not return.
The Wild Donkey and the Wild Ox
5 “Who has given the wild donkey its freedom?
Who has untied its ropes?
6 I gave it the wastelands as its home
and the salt flats for its dwelling.
7 It scorns the noise of the city;
it is not forced to obey a driver’s shouted order.
8 The mountains are the pasture over which it ranges
in search of any green foliage.
9 “Is the wild ox willing to serve you?
Will it stay by your manger during the night?
10 Can you use ropes to harness its strength?
Will it harrow the furrows after you?
11 Can you depend upon its massive strength
to do your heavy work?
12 Can you rely upon it to return home
and bring your grain to your threshing floor?
The Ostrich and the Horse[a]
13 “The wings of an ostrich are ineffectual,
since its pinions and its plumage are scanty.
14 It leaves its eggs on the ground
and depends on the earth to warm them,
15 forgetting that a foot may crush them
or that a wild animal may trample upon them.
16 It cruelly disowns its young
as if they were not its own,
unconcerned if its labor has been wasted.
17 For God has denied it wisdom
and deprived it of understanding.
18 Yet with its swiftness of foot
it leaves both horse and rider in the dust.
19 “Do you give the horse its strength?
Have you clothed its neck with a mane?
20 Do you make it leap like a locust,
striking terror with its proud snorting?
21 It paws the plain jubilantly and prances
as it charges the battle line with all its strength.
22 It laughs at fear and is frightened of nothing;
it does not shy away when confronted with the sword.
23 “The quiver rattles at its side;
the spear and the javelin flash.
24 Trembling with eagerness it eats up the ground,
and when the trumpet sounds, there is no holding it back.
25 At each blast of the trumpet it cries ‘Aha!’
From afar it scents the battle,
the shouts of the commanders, and the war cries.
The Hawk and the Eagle
26 “Did your wisdom enable the hawk to soar
as it spreads its wings toward the south?
27 Does the eagle soar aloft at your command
to build its nest on the lofty heights?
28 It dwells on the cliff in security,
spending its nights on a rocky crag.
29 From there it watches for its prey;
its eyes are able to behold it from afar.
30 Its young ones hungrily drink the blood;
wherever the slain are, it is there.”
Job 39
Young's Literal Translation
39 Hast thou known the time of The bearing of the wild goats of the rock? The bringing forth of hinds thou dost mark!
2 Thou dost number the months they fulfil? And thou hast known the time of their bringing forth!
3 They bow down, Their young ones they bring forth safely, Their pangs they cast forth.
4 Safe are their young ones, They grow up in the field, they have gone out, And have not returned to them.
5 Who hath sent forth the wild ass free? Yea, the bands of the wild ass who opened?
6 Whose house I have made the wilderness, And his dwellings the barren land,
7 He doth laugh at the multitude of a city, The cries of an exactor he heareth not.
8 The range of mountains [is] his pasture, And after every green thing he seeketh.
9 Is a Reem willing to serve thee? Doth he lodge by thy crib?
10 Dost thou bind a Reem in a furrow [with] his thick band? Doth he harrow valleys after thee?
11 Dost thou trust in him because great [is] his power? And dost thou leave unto him thy labour?
12 Dost thou trust in him That he doth bring back thy seed? And [to] thy threshing-floor doth gather [it]?
13 The wing of the rattling ones exulteth, Whether the pinion of the ostrich or hawk.
14 For she leaveth on the earth her eggs, And on the dust she doth warm them,
15 And she forgetteth that a foot may press it, And a beast of the field tread it down.
16 Her young ones it hath hardened without her, In vain [is] her labour without fear.
17 For God hath caused her to forget wisdom, And He hath not given a portion To her in understanding:
18 At the time on high she lifteth herself up, She laugheth at the horse and at his rider.
19 Dost thou give to the horse might? Dost thou clothe his neck [with] a mane?
20 Dost thou cause him to rush as a locust? The majesty of his snorting [is] terrible.
21 They dig in a valley, and he rejoiceth in power, He goeth forth to meet the armour.
22 He laugheth at fear, and is not affrighted, And he turneth not back from the face of the sword.
23 Against him rattle doth quiver, The flame of a spear, and a halbert.
24 With trembling and rage he swalloweth the ground, And remaineth not stedfast Because of the sound of a trumpet.
25 Among the trumpets he saith, Aha, And from afar he doth smell battle, Roaring of princes and shouting.
26 By thine understanding flieth a hawk? Spreadeth he his wings to the south?
27 At thy command goeth an eagle up high? Or lifteth he up his nest?
28 A rock he doth inhabit, Yea, he lodgeth on the tooth of a rock, and fortress.
29 From thence he hath sought food, To a far off place his eyes look attentively,
30 And his brood gulph up blood, And where the pierced [are] -- there [is] he!
