Job 39
The Voice
39 Eternal One: Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth?
Do you attend at the doe’s delivery?
2 Can you keep track of the months until each carries to term?
Do you even know their calving season?
3 They drop to their knees to birth their young,
and their labor pains cease to grip.
4 Their offspring grow to their full strength in the open field;
then they leave and do not return.
5 Who set the wild donkey free?
Who cut it loose from its bonds?
6 I gave it the wastelands for a home
and the salt flats for a dwelling.
7 It avoids the commotion of the city;
it is far from the shouts of the mule driver and never has to obey one.
8 Instead, it trundles through hills in search of pasture,
its eyes ever watchful for a patch of green.
9 Is the wild ox willing to serve you?
Will it be content to stay the night beside your feeding trough?
10 Can you confine the wild ox with a rope to plow a straight furrow?
Will it cultivate the valleys as you pull him along?
11 Can you trust it simply because of its enormous strength?
Can you really leave your work to it without guiding it?
12 Can you depend on it to return the remaining seed to you,
to carry the grain to your threshing floor?
God now speaks to Job of the ostrich. Is Job as foolish as this stupid bird who leaves her eggs on the ground?
13 The ostrich flaps her wings,
and the ringing joy is heard.
But her wings and pinions are not like a stork’s. She cannot fly.
14 She is different from other birds,
for she lays her eggs straight on the ground,
and she incubates them in the bare dust.
15 She forgets that a foot might crush them
or a wild animal trample them.
16 She is harsh to her young, as if they were not even hers.
She is unconcerned at the futility of her labor,
17 For God denied her a share of wisdom,
and in doling out understanding, He passed her by.
18 Oh and yet, look at her when the time comes to run—
she spreads her strange wings and laughs at the horse who must be guided by his rider
although she is an absurd bird who can’t even fly.
19 And oh, of course—now let us speak of the horse!
Do you give that creature its power?
Do you adorn its neck with that flowing mane?
20 Do you make it leap like a locust
and terrify the enemy with its dreadful snorting?
21 It paws and stamps the valley ground, prancing and gloating at its strength;
and it greets the battle with a charge.
22 It laughs at fear, is a stranger to panic,
and will not turn away from any oncoming blade.
23 Though the quiver’s arrows rattle at its side,
though the spear and lance flash in its eyes,
24 It is a storm and a fury devouring the ground ahead,
set off by the blast of the trumpet, unable to stand still.
25 Stirred by the trumpet sound to charge,
the horse responds with its own blast
and smells the blood of battle from a distance,
amid commands barked by officers and shouts of alarm.
26 Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom,
stretching its wings toward the south?
27 Does the eagle take flight at your command,
or build its nest in the towering heights?
28 On jutting cliffs it lives and keeps the night;
on rocky crags it builds its mountain stronghold.
29 From there it spies its prey;
its keen eyes discover its victim still far off.
30 Its young ones feast on blood,
and wherever the slain lie, there it is.
Job 39
Legacy Standard Bible
39 “Do you know the time the [a](A)mountain goats give birth?
Do you keep watch over the calving of the (B)deer?
2 Can you count the months they fulfill,
Or do you know the time they give birth?
3 They kneel down; they bring forth their young;
They send out their labor pains.
4 Their children become strong; they grow up in the open field;
They leave and do not return to them.
5 “Who sent out the (C)wild donkey free?
And who loosed the bonds of the swift donkey,
6 For whom I have set (D)the desert plain as a home
And the salt land as his dwelling place?
7 He laughs at the tumult of the city;
The shoutings of the driver he does not hear.
8 He explores the mountains for his pasture
And searches after every green thing.
9 Will the (E)wild ox consent to serve you,
Or will he spend the night at your manger?
10 Can you bind the wild ox in a furrow with [b]ropes,
Or will he harrow the valleys after you?
11 Will you trust him because his power is great
And leave your labor to him?
12 Will you believe him that he will return your seed of grain
And gather it from your threshing floor?
13 “The ostriches’ wings flap joyously
But are they the pinion and plumage of a [c]stork?
14 For she leaves her eggs to the earth
And warms them in the dust,
15 And she forgets that a foot may crush [d]them,
Or that a beast of the field may trample [e]them.
16 She treats her children (F)cruelly, as if they were not hers;
Though her labor be empty, she is without dread,
17 Because God has made her forget wisdom,
And has not given her a share of understanding.
18 When she raises herself up high,
She laughs at the horse and his rider.
19 “Do you give the horse his might?
Do you clothe his neck with a mane?
20 Do you make him (G)leap like the locust?
His splendid (H)snorting is terrible.
21 [f]He paws in the valley and rejoices in his power;
He (I)goes out to meet the weapons.
22 He laughs at dread and is not dismayed;
And he does not turn back from the sword.
23 The quiver rattles against him,
The flashing spear and javelin.
24 With shaking and rage he [g]races over the ground,
And he does not [h]stand still at the sound of the trumpet.
25 As often as the trumpet sounds he says, ‘Aha!’
And he scents the battle from afar,
And the thunder of the commanders and the shout of war.
26 “Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars,
Stretching his wings toward the south?
27 Is it at your [i]command that the eagle goes on high
And raises (J)his nest high?
28 On the cliff he dwells and lodges,
Upon the rocky crag, a fortress.
29 From there he [j](K)spies out food;
His eyes see it from afar.
30 His young ones also suck up blood;
And (L)where the slain are, there is he.”
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.
Legacy Standard Bible Copyright ©2021 by The Lockman Foundation. All rights reserved. Managed in partnership with Three Sixteen Publishing Inc. LSBible.org For Permission to Quote Information visit https://www.LSBible.org.