39 39:1 “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the does? ²Can you number the months that they fulfill, and do you know the time when they give birth, ³when they crouch, bring forth their offspring, and are delivered of their young? ⁴Their young ones become strong; they grow up in the open; they go out and do not return to them.

⁵“Who has let the wild donkey go free? Who has loosed the bonds of the swift donkey, ⁶to whom I have given the arid plain for his home and the salt land for his dwelling place? ⁷He scorns the tumult of the city; he hears not the shouts of the driver. ⁸He ranges the mountains as his pasture, and he searches after every green thing.

⁹“Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will he spend the night at your manger? ¹⁰Can you bind him in the furrow with ropes, or will he harrow the valleys after you? ¹¹Will you depend on him because his strength is great, and will you leave to him your labor? ¹²Do you have faith in him that he will return your grain and gather it to your threshing floor?

¹³“The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the pinions and plumage of love? [1] ¹⁴For she leaves her eggs to the earth and lets them be warmed on the ground, ¹⁵forgetting that a foot may crush them and that the wild beast may trample them. ¹⁶She deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers; though her labor be in vain, yet she has no fear, ¹⁷because God has made her forget wisdom and given her no share in understanding. ¹⁸When she rouses herself to flee,[2] she laughs at the horse and his rider.

¹⁹“Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with a mane? ²⁰Do you make him leap like the locust? His majestic snorting is terrifying. ²¹He paws[3] in the valley and exults in his strength; he goes out to meet the weapons. ²²He laughs at fear and is not dismayed; he does not turn back from the sword. ²³Upon him rattle the quiver, the flashing spear and the javelin. ²⁴With fierceness and rage he swallows the ground; he cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet. ²⁵When the trumpet sounds, he says ‘Aha!’ He smells the battle from afar, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

²⁶“Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars and spreads his wings toward the south? ²⁷Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high? ²⁸On the rock he dwells and makes his home, on the rocky crag and stronghold. ²⁹From there he spies out the prey; his eyes behold it afar off. ³⁰His young ones suck up blood, and where the slain are, there is he.”

40 40:1 And the Lord said to Job:

²“Shall a faultfinder contend with the Almighty? He who argues with God, let him answer it.”

Job Promises Silence

³Then Job answered the Lord and said:

⁴“Behold, I am of small account; what shall I answer you? I lay my hand on my mouth. ⁵I have spoken once, and I will not answer; twice, but I will proceed no further.”

The Lord Challenges Job

⁶Then the Lord answered Job out of the whirlwind and said:

⁷“Dress for action[4] like a man; I will question you, and you make it known to me. ⁸Will you even put me in the wrong? Will you condemn me that you may be in the right? ⁹Have you an arm like God, and can you thunder with a voice like his?

¹⁰“Adorn yourself with majesty and dignity; clothe yourself with glory and splendor. ¹¹Pour out the overflowings of your anger, and look on everyone who is proud and abase him. ¹²Look on everyone who is proud and bring him low and tread down the wicked where they stand. ¹³Hide them all in the dust together; bind their faces in the world below.^[5]¹⁴Then will I also acknowledge to you that your own right hand can save you.

¹⁵“Behold, Behemoth,[6] which I made as I made you; he eats grass like an ox. ¹⁶Behold, his strength in his loins, and his power in the muscles of his belly. ¹⁷He makes his tail stiff like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are knit together. ¹⁸His bones are tubes of bronze, his limbs like bars of iron.

¹⁹“He is the first of the works[7] of God; let him who made him bring near his sword! ²⁰For the mountains yield food for him where all the wild beasts play. ²¹Under the lotus plants he lies, in the shelter of the reeds and in the marsh. ²²For his shade the lotus trees cover him; the willows of the brook surround him. ²³Behold, if the river is turbulent he is not frightened; he is confident though Jordan rushes against his mouth. ²⁴Can one take him by his eyes,[8] or pierce his nose with a snare?

[1] The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain [2] The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain [3] Hebrew They paw [4] Hebrew Gird up your loins [5] Hebrew in the hidden place [6] A large animal, exact identity unknown [7] Hebrew ways [8] Or in his sight