Job 39

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