Chapter 39

¹ Say if thou knowest the time of the bringing forth of the wild goats of the rock, and if thou

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hast marked the calving of the hinds: ² and if thou has hast numbered the full months of their being with young, and if thou hast relieved their pangs: ³ and hast reared their young without fear; and wilt thou loosen their pangs? ⁴ Their young will break forth; they will be multiplied with offspring: their young will go forth, and will not return to them.

⁵ And who is he that sent forth the wild ass free? and who loosed his bands? ⁶ whereas I made his habitation the wilderness, and the salt land his coverts. ⁷ He laughs to scorn the multitude of the city, and hears not the chiding of the tax-gatherer. ⁸ He will survey the mountains as his pasture, and he seeks after every green thing.

⁹ And will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or to lie down at thy manger? ¹⁰ And wilt thou bind his yoke with thongs, or will he plough furrows for thee in the plain? ¹¹ And dost thou trust him, because his strength is great? and wilt thou commit thy works to him? ¹² And wilt thou believe that he will return to thee thy seed, and bring it in to thy threshing-floor?

^{13 1}The peacock has a beautiful wing: if the stork and the ostrich conceive, it is worthy of notice, ¹⁴ for the ostrich will leave her eggs in the ground, and warm them on the dust, ¹⁵ and has forgotten that the foot will scatter them, and the wild beasts of the field trample them. ¹⁶ She has ²hardened herself against her young ones, as though she bereaved not herself: she labours in vain without fear. ¹⁷ For God has ³withholden wisdom from her, and not given her a portion in understanding. ¹⁸ In her season she will lift herself on high; she will scorn the horse and his rider.

¹⁹ Hast thou invested the horse with strength, and clothed his neck with terror? ²⁰ And hast thou clad him in perfect armour, and made his breast glorious with courage? ²¹ He paws exulting in the plain, and goes forth in strength into the plain. ²² He laughs to scorn ⁴a king as he meets him, and will by no means turn back from the sword. ²³ The bow and sword resound against him; and his rage will ⁵swallow up the ground: ²⁴ and he will not believe until the trumpet sounds. ²⁵ And when the trumpet sounds, he says, Aha! and afar off he smells the war with prancing and neighing.

²⁶ And does the hawk remain steady by thy wisdom, having spread out her wings unmoved, looking toward the region of the south? ²⁷ And does the eagle rise at thy command, and the vulture remain sitting over his nest, ²⁸ on a crag of a rock, and in a secret place? ²⁹ Thence he seeks food, his eyes observe from far. ³⁰ And his young ones roll themselves in blood, and wherever the carcasses may be, immediately they are found.

³¹ And the Lord God answered Job, and said, ³² Will any one pervert judgment with the Mighty One? and he that reproves God, let him return ⁶it for answer. ³³ And Job answered and said to the Lord, ³⁴ Why do I yet plead? being rebuked ⁷even while reproving the Lord: hearing such things, whereas I am nothing: and what shall I answer to these arguments? I will lay my hand upon my mouth. ³⁵ I have spoken once; but I will not do so a second time.

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