Job 39

NEW AMERICAN BIBLE	NEW JERUSALEM
1 Do you know about the birth of the mountain goats, watch for the birth pangs of the hinds,	1 Do you know when mountain goats give birth? Have you ever watched deer in labour?
2 Number the months that they must fulfill, and fix the time of their bringing forth?	2 Have you ever counted the months that they carry their young? Do you know when they give birth?
3 They crouch down and bear their young; they deliver their progeny in the desert.	3 They crouch to drop their young, they get rid of their burdens
4 When their offspring thrive and grow, they leave and do not return.	4 and the calves, having grown big and strong, go off into the desert and never come back to them.
5 Who has given the wild ass his freedom, and who has loosed him from bonds?	5 Who has given the wild donkey his freedom, who has undone the harness of the brayer?
6 I have made the wilderness his home and the salt flats his dwelling.	6 I have given him the wastelands as his home, the salt plain as his habitat.
7 He scoffs at the uproar of the city, and hears no shouts of a driver.	7 He scorns the turmoil of the town, obeys no donkey-man's shouts.
8 He ranges the mountains for pasture, and seeks out every patch of green.	8 The mountains are the pastures that he ranges in quest of anything green.
9 Will the wild ox consent to serve you, and to pass the nights by your manger?	9 Is the wild ox willing to serve you or spend a night beside your manger?
10 Will a rope bind him in the furrow, and will he harrow the valleys after you?	10 If you tie a rope round his neck wil he harrow the furrows for you?
11 Will you trust him for his great strength and leave to him the fruits of your toil?	11 Can you rely on his massive strength and leave him to do your heavy work?
12 Can you rely on him to thresh out your grain and gather in the yield of your threshing floor?	12 Can you depend on him to come home and pile your grain on your threshing-floor?
13 The wings of the ostrich beat idly; her plumage is lacking in pinions.	13 Can the wing of the ostrich be compared with the plumage of stork or falcon?
14 When she leaves her eggs on the ground and deposits them in the sand,	14 She leaves her eggs on the ground with only earth to warm them;
15 Unmindful that a foot may crush them, that the wild beasts may trample them,	15 forgetting that a foot may tread on them or a wild animal crush them.
16 She cruelly disowns her young and ruthlessly makes nought of her brood;	16 Cruel to her chicks as if they were not hers, little she cares if her labour goes for nothing.
17 For God has withheld wisdom from her and has given her no share in understanding.	17 God, you see, has deprived her of wisdom and given her no share of intel igence.
18 Yet in her swiftness of foot she makes sport of the horse and his rider.	18 Yet, if she bestirs herself to use her height, she can make fools of horse and rider too.
19 Do you give the horse his strength, and endow his neck with splendor?	19 Are you the one who makes the horse so brave and covers his neck with flowing mane?
20 Do you make the steed to quiver while his thunderous snorting spreads terror?	20 Do you make him leap like a grasshopper? His haughty neighing inspires terror.
21 He jubilantly paws the plain and rushes in his might against the weapons.	21 Exultantly he paws the soil of the val ey, and charges the battle-line in all his strength.
22 He laughs at fear and cannot be deterred; he turns not back from the sword.	22 He laughs at fear; he is afraid of nothing, he recoils before no sword.
23 Around him rattles the quiver, flashes the spear and the javelin.	23 On his back the quiver rattles, the flashing spear and javelin.
24 Frenzied and trembling he devours the ground; he holds not back at the sound of the trumpet,	24 Trembling with impatience, he eats up the miles; when the trumpet sounds, there is no holding him.
25 but at each blast he cries, "Aha!" Even from afar he scents the battle, the roar of the chiefs and the shouting.	25 At each trumpet blast he neighs exultantly. He scents the battle from afar, the thundering of thecommanders and the war cry.
26 Is it by your discernment that the hawk soars, that he spreads his wings toward the south?	26 Is it your wisdom that sets the hawk flying when he spreads his wings to travel south?
27 Does the eagle fly up at your command to build his nest aloft?	27 Does the eagle soar at your command to make her eyrie in the heights?
28 On the cliff he dwells and spends the night, on the spur of the cliff or the fortress.	28 She spends her nights among the crags with a needle of rock as her fortress,
29 From thence he watches for his prey; his eyes behold it afar off.	29 from which she watches for prey, fixing it with her far-ranging eye.
30 His young ones greedily drink blood; where the slain are, there is he.	30 Even her young drink blood; where anyone has been killed, she is there.