39 “Do you know when (A)the mountain goats give birth?
    Do you observe (B)the calving of the does?
Can you number the months that they fulfill,
    and do you know the time when they give birth,
when they (C)crouch, bring forth their offspring,
    and are delivered of their young?
Their young ones become strong; they grow up in the open;
    they go out and (D)do not return to them.

“Who has let the wild donkey go free?
    Who has (E)loosed the bonds of the swift donkey,
to whom I have given (F)the arid plain for his home
    and (G)the salt land for his dwelling place?
He scorns the tumult of the city;
    he hears not the shouts of the driver.
He ranges the mountains as his pasture,
    and he searches after every green thing.

“Is (H)the wild ox willing to serve you?
    Will he spend the night at your (I)manger?
10 Can you bind (J)him in the furrow with ropes,
    or will he harrow the valleys after you?
11 Will you depend on him because his strength is great,
    and will you leave to him your labor?
12 Do you have faith in him that he will return your grain
    and gather it to your threshing floor?

13 “The wings of the ostrich wave proudly,
    but are they the pinions and plumage of love?[a]
14 For she leaves her eggs to the earth
    and lets them be warmed on the ground,
15 forgetting that a foot may crush them
    and that the wild beast may trample them.
16 She (K)deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers;
    though her (L)labor be in vain, yet she has no fear,
17 because God has made her forget wisdom
    and (M)given her no share in understanding.
18 When she rouses herself to flee,[b]
    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 leap like the locust?
    His majestic (N)snorting is terrifying.
21 He paws[c] in the valley and exults in his strength;
    he (O)goes out to meet the weapons.
22 He laughs at fear and is not dismayed;
    he does not turn back from the sword.
23 Upon him rattle the quiver,
    the flashing spear, and the javelin.
24 With fierceness and rage he swallows the ground;
    he cannot stand still at (P)the sound of the trumpet.
25 When the trumpet sounds, he says ‘Aha!’
    He smells the battle from afar,
    the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

26 “Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars
    and spreads his wings toward the south?
27 Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up
    and makes his (Q)nest on high?
28 On the rock he dwells and makes his home,
    on (R)the rocky crag and stronghold.
29 From there he spies out the prey;
    his eyes behold it from far away.
30 His young ones suck up blood,
    and (S)where the slain are, there is he.”

Footnotes

  1. Job 39:13 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
  2. Job 39:18 The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain
  3. Job 39:21 Hebrew They paw

以禽獸之性詰約伯

39 「山巖間的野山羊幾時生產,你知道嗎?母鹿下犢之期,你能察定嗎? 牠們懷胎的月數,你能數算嗎?牠們幾時生產,你能曉得嗎? 牠們屈身,將子生下,就除掉疼痛。 這子漸漸肥壯,在荒野長大,去而不回。

「誰放野驢出去自由?誰解開快驢的繩索? 我使曠野做牠的住處,使鹹地當牠的居所。 牠嗤笑城內的喧嚷,不聽趕牲口的喝聲。 遍山是牠的草場,牠尋找各樣青綠之物。 野牛豈肯服侍你?豈肯住在你的槽旁? 10 你豈能用套繩將野牛籠在犁溝之間?牠豈肯隨你耙山谷之地? 11 豈可因牠的力大就倚靠牠?豈可把你的工交給牠做嗎? 12 豈可信靠牠把你的糧食運到家,又收聚你禾場上的穀嗎?

13 「鴕鳥的翅膀歡然搧展,豈是顯慈愛的翎毛和羽毛嗎? 14 因牠把蛋留在地上,在塵土中使得溫暖, 15 卻想不到被腳踹碎,或被野獸踐踏。 16 牠忍心待雛,似乎不是自己的;雖然徒受勞苦,也不為雛懼怕。 17 因為神使牠沒有智慧,也未將悟性賜給牠。 18 牠幾時挺身展開翅膀,就嗤笑馬和騎馬的人。

19 「馬的大力是你所賜的嗎?牠頸項上挓挲的鬃是你給牠披上的嗎? 20 是你叫牠跳躍像蝗蟲嗎?牠噴氣之威使人驚惶。 21 牠在谷中刨地,自喜其力,牠出去迎接佩帶兵器的人。 22 牠嗤笑可怕的事並不驚惶,也不因刀劍退回。 23 箭袋和發亮的槍並短槍,在牠身上錚錚有聲。 24 牠發猛烈的怒氣將地吞下,一聽角聲就不耐站立。 25 角每發聲,牠說『呵哈』,牠從遠處聞著戰氣,又聽見軍長大發雷聲和兵丁呐喊。

26 「鷹雀飛翔,展開翅膀一直向南,豈是藉你的智慧嗎? 27 大鷹上騰在高處搭窩,豈是聽你的吩咐嗎? 28 牠住在山巖,以山峰和堅固之所為家, 29 從那裡窺看食物,眼睛遠遠觀望。 30 牠的雛也咂血;被殺的人在哪裡,牠也在哪裡。」