Job 39

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39 <1> "Do you know when

the mountain goats are born?

Do you watch when the mother deer has her baby?

<2> Do you know how many months

they must carry their babies?

Do you know when it is the right time

for them to be born?

<3> These animals lie down, they feel their birth pains,

and their babies are born.

<4> Their babies grow strong out in the wild.

Then they leave their mothers and never come back.

<5> "Who let the wild donkeys go free?

Who untied their ropes and let them loose?

<6> I let the wild donkey have the desert for a home.

I gave the salt lands to them for a place to live.

<7> Wild donkeys are happy to be away from the noise of the city.

They never have to listen to their drivers shouting at them.

<8> Wild donkeys live in the mountains.

That is their pasture.

That is where they look for food to eat.

<9> "Will a wild bull agree to serve you?

Will he stay in your barn at night?

<10> Will a wild bull let you put ropes on him

so you can plow your fields?

<11> A wild bull is very strong,

but can you trust him to do your work?

<12> Can you trust him

to gather your grain and bring it

to your threshing[98] place?

<13> "An ostrich gets excited and flaps his wings.

But an ostrich cannot fly.

Its wings and feathers are not like the wings of a stork.

<14> An ostrich lays her eggs on the ground

and they become warm in the sand.

<15> The ostrich forgets

that someone might walk on her eggs

or that some wild animal might break them.

<16> An ostrich leaves her little babies.

She treats them as if they were not her own.

If her babies die, she does not care

that all her work was for nothing.

<17> Why? Because I didn't give wisdom to the ostrich.

The ostrich is foolish,

and I made her that way.

<18> But when the ostrich gets up to run,

she laughs at the horse and its rider,

because she can run faster than any horse.

<19> "Did you give the horse its strength?

Did you put the mane[99] on its neck?

<20> Did you make the horse able to

jump far like a locust?

The horse snorts[100] loudly, and it scares people.

<21> A horse is happy that he is so strong.

He scratches the ground with his foot

and runs quickly into battle.

<22> The horse laughs at fear.

He is not afraid!

He does not run away from a battle.

<23> The soldier's quiver[101] shakes on the horse's side.

The spear and weapons his rider carries shine in the sun.

<24> The horse is very excited!

He runs fast over the ground.[102]

When the horse hears the trumpet blow,

he cannot stand still.

<25> When the trumpet sounds,

the horse shouts, 'Hurray!'

He smells the battle from far away.

He hears the commanders shouting orders

and all the other sounds of the battle.

<26> "Did you teach the hawk

how to spread his wings and fly south.[103]

<27> Are you the one who told the eagle[104]

to fly high into the sky.

Did you tell him to build his nest

high in the mountains?

<28> He lives high on a peak at the top of a cliff.

That is his fortress.[105]

<29> From there he looks far into the distance,

searching for his food.

<30> The eagles will gather around dead bodies,

and the babies will drink the blood."