Job 39
God pummels Job with questions
God: What do you know about goats?
1Tell me, Job,When do wild mountain goats give birth?
What about the deer?
2How many months do they carry their young?
Do you know the moment of each birth?
3When do the mothers drop into a crouch
And deliver? Do you know?
4What do you know about how they grow over the months?
What happens before they leave home,
Never to return.
God: What do you know about donkeys?
5Who released the wild donkeys?They’re running fast and free as they please.
Who did that? Do you know?
6They roam the desolate badlands
And the salty desert by the Dead Sea. [1]
7They want nothing to do with noisy cities.
They enjoy life far away from donkey herders
Who would tell them where to go.
8They scout the highlands for food.
Any patch of green will do.
God: Can you tame a wild ox
9Would a wild ox help you work all dayThen sleep tied up in your stall?
10Can you make it plow the rows
With a harness, yoke, and straps?
11Can you borrow its strength?
Will it do your hardest work for you?
12Can you guarantee it will haul your grain
And deliver it safely to the threshing floor. [2]
God: Have you seen my ostriches run?
13Ostrich wings are a joy to behold. Gorgeous.But they don’t compare to the elegance of a stork.
14Mother ostrich walks away from her eggs
And leaves them warming on the ground.
15She doesn’t realize someone might break them.
An animal might step on them.
16Ostriches make bad mommas.
They treat their young like strangers,
And don’t care if they lose them,
To an ostrich mother,
Giving birth is an inconvenient waste of time.
17I gave them great wings,
But not much wisdom.
They’re not the smartest birds in the flock.
18But they are the fastest on foot.
They can outrun a rider on horseback. [3]
God: Did you give horses their muscle?
19Did you make the horses strong?Did you add that wonderful mane on their necks?
20Did you give them the spring of a grasshopper
And tell them how high to jump?
Their violent snort will tell you how high to jump.
21Hoofs pound and tear the ground.
Then the horses charge into battle.
22They’re not afraid of swords.
They charge right into them.
23Arrows and javelins fly past them,
Alongside spears, flashing in the sunlight.
24Nothing will keep them still
When the horn sounds the charge.
Enraged, they speed across the land,
25Squealing and roaring echoes to the horn.
The smell the battle from far away,
And hear the distant battle cries.
God: What do you know about birds?
26Did you create hawks?Did you design their majestic flight?
Are you the wind beneath their wings?
27Did you tell eagles to fly to mountain tops?
Did you tell them to nest in that thin air?
28They relax in the rocks
And make their homes in the crags.
29From the heights, they look for prey below
And spot them miles and kilometers away.
30Their squawking eaglets gulp the blood
Of carcasses and corpses scattered limp in the dirt.
Footnotes
139:6
The writer didn’t mention the Dead Sea, but the saltiest land borders the Dead Sea, the saltiest large body of water on earth. It keeps a person from sinking and it stings the eyes like a bee.
239:12
Farmers used flat ground or flat rock as a threshing platform to beat grain kernels free from the stalks.
339:18
An ostrich can hit 45 mph (72.5 km). The average horse can run about 30 mph (50 km).
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