Job 39

NEW JERUSALEM	CATHOLIC PUBLIC DOMAIN
1 Do you know when mountain goats give birth? Have you ever watched deer in labour?	1 Do you know at what time the wild goats have given birth among the rocks, or do you observe the deer when they go into labor?
2 Have you ever counted the months that they carry their young? Do you know when they give birth?	2 Have you numbered the months since their conception, and do you know at what time they gave birth?
3 They crouch to drop their young, they get rid of their burdens	3 They bend themselves for their offspring, and they give birth, and they emit roars.
4 and the calves, having grown big and strong, go off into the desert and never come back to them.	4 Their young are weaned and go out to feed; they depart and do not return to them.
5 Who has given the wild donkey his freedom, who has undone the harness of the brayer?	5 Who has set the wild ass free, and who has released his bonds?
6 I have given him the wastelands as his home, the salt plain as his habitat.	6 I have given a house in solitude to him, and his tabernacle is in the salted land.
7 He scorns the turmoil of the town, obeys no donkey-man's shouts.	7 He despises the crowded city; he does not pay attention to the bellow of the tax collector.
8 The mountains are the pastures that he ranges in quest of anything green.	8 He looks around the mountains of his pasture, and he searches everywhere for green plants.
9 Is the wild ox willing to serve you or spend a night beside your manger?	9 Will the rhinoceros be willing to serve you, and will he remain in your stall?
10 If you tie a rope round his neck wil he harrow the furrows for you?	10 Can you detain the rhinoceros with your harness to plough for you, and will he loosen the soil of the furrows behind you?
11 Can you rely on his massive strength and leave him to do your heavy work?	11 Will you put your faith in his great strength, and delegate your labors to him?
12 Can you depend on him to come home and pile your grain on your threshing-floor?	12 Will you trust him to return to you the seed, and to gather it on your drying floor?
13 Can the wing of the ostrich be compared with the plumage of stork or falcon?	13 The wing of the ostrich is like the wings of the heron, and of the hawk.
14 She leaves her eggs on the ground with only earth to warm them;	14 When she leaves eggs behind in the earth, will you perhaps warm them in the dust?
15 forgetting that a foot may tread on them or a wild animal crush them.	15 She forgets that feet may trample them, or that the beasts of the field may shatter them.
16 Cruel to her chicks as if they were not hers, little she cares if her labour goes for nothing.	16 She is hardened against her young, as if they were not hers; she has labored in vain, with no fear compelling her.
17 God, you see, has deprived her of wisdom and given her no share of intel igence.	17 For God has deprived her of wisdom; neither has he given her understanding.
18 Yet, if she bestirs herself to use her height, she can make fools of horse and rider too.	18 Yet, when the time is right, she raises her wings on high; she ridicules the horse and his rider.
19 Are you the one who makes the horse so brave and covers his neck with flowing mane?	19 Will you supply strength to the horse, or envelope his throat with neighing?
20 Do you make him leap like a grasshopper? His haughty neighing inspires terror.	20 Will you alarm him as the locusts do? His panic is revealed by the display of his nostrils.
21 Exultantly he paws the soil of the val ey, and charges the battle-line in all his strength.	21 He digs at the earth with his hoof; he jumps around boldly; he advances to meet armed men.
22 He laughs at fear; he is afraid of nothing, he recoils before no sword.	22 He despises fear; he does not turn away from the sword.
23 On his back the quiver rattles, the flashing spear and javelin.	23 Above him, the quiver rattles, the spear and the shield shake.
24 Trembling with impatience, he eats up the miles; when the trumpet sounds, there is no holding him.	24 Seething and raging, he drinks up the earth; neither does he pause when the blast of the trumpet sounds.
25 At each trumpet blast he neighs exultantly. He scents the battle from afar, the thundering of thecommanders and the war cry.	25 When he hears the bugle, he says, “Ha!” He smells the battle from a distance, the exhortation of the officers, and the battle cry of the soldiers.
26 Is it your wisdom that sets the hawk flying when he spreads his wings to travel south?	26 Does the hawk grow feathers by means of your wisdom, spreading her wings towards the south?
27 Does the eagle soar at your command to make her eyrie in the heights?	27 Will the eagle lift herself up at your command and make her nest in steep places?
28 She spends her nights among the crags with a needle of rock as her fortress,	28 She dwells among the rocks, and she lingers among broken boulders and inaccessible cliffs.
29 from which she watches for prey, fixing it with her far-ranging eye.	29 From there, she looks for food, and her eyes catch sight of it from far away.
30 Even her young drink blood; where anyone has been killed, she is there.	30 Her young will drink blood, and wherever the carcass will be, she is there immediately.
	31 And the Lord continued, and he said to Job:
	32 Will he who contends with God be so easily silenced? Certainly, he who argues with God must also respond to him.
	33 Then Job answered the Lord, saying:
	34 What could I possibly answer, since I have been speaking thoughtlessly? I will place my hand over my mouth.
	35 One thing I have spoken, which I wish I had not said; and another, to which I will add no more.