Job 39

1“Do you know when mountain goats give birth? Have you watched the doe bear her fawn?

2Can you count the months they are pregnant? Do you know the time they give birth?

3They crouch down and bring forth their young; they deliver their newborn.

4Their young ones thrive and grow up in the open field; they leave and do not return.

5Who set the wild donkey free? Who released the swift donkey from the harness?

6I made the wilderness his home and the salt flats his dwelling.

7He scorns the tumult of the city and never hears the shouts of a driver.

8He roams the mountains for pasture, searching for any green thing.

9Will the wild ox consent to serve you? Will he stay by your manger at night?

10Can you hold him to the furrow with a harness? Will he plow the valleys behind you?

11Can you rely on his great strength? Will you leave your hard work to him?

12Can you trust him to bring in your grain and gather it to your threshing floor?

13The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, but cannot match the pinions and feathers of the stork.

14For she leaves her eggs on the ground and lets them warm in the sand.

15She forgets that a foot may crush them, or a wild animal may trample them.

16She treats her young harshly, as if not her own, with no concern that her labor was in vain.

17For God has deprived her of wisdom; He has not endowed her with understanding.

18Yet when she proudly spreads her wings, she laughs at the horse and its rider.

19Do you give strength to the horse or adorn his neck with a mane?

20Do you make him leap like a locust, striking terror with his proud snorting?

21He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength; he charges into battle.

22He laughs at fear, frightened of nothing; he does not turn back from the sword.

23A quiver rattles at his side, along with a flashing spear and lance.

24Trembling with excitement, he devours the distance; he cannot stand still when the ram’s horn sounds.

25At the blast of the horn, he snorts with fervor. He catches the scent of battle from afar, the shouts of captains and the cry of war.

26Does the hawk take flight by your understanding and spread his wings toward the south?

27Does the eagle soar at your command and make his nest on high?

28He dwells on a cliff and lodges there; his stronghold is on a rocky crag.

29From there he spies out food; his eyes see it from afar.

30His young ones feast on blood; and where the slain are, there he is.”

1For the choirmaster. For Jeduthun. A Psalm of David. I said, “I will watch my ways so that I will not sin with my tongue; I will guard my mouth with a muzzle as long as the wicked are present.”

2I was speechless and still; I remained silent, even from speaking good, and my sorrow was stirred.

3My heart grew hot within me; as I mused, the fire burned. Then I spoke with my tongue:

4“Show me, O LORD, my end and the measure of my days. Let me know how fleeting my life is.

5You, indeed, have made my days as handbreadths, and my lifetime as nothing before You. Truly each man at his best exists as but a breath. Selah

6Surely every man goes about like a phantom; surely he bustles in vain; he heaps up riches not knowing who will haul them away.

7And now, O Lord, for what do I wait? My hope is in You.

8Deliver me from all my transgressions; do not make me the reproach of fools.

9I have become mute; I do not open my mouth because of what You have done.

10Remove Your scourge from me; I am perishing by the force of Your hand.

11You discipline and correct a man for his iniquity, consuming like a moth what he holds dear; surely each man is but a vapor. Selah

12Hear my prayer, O LORD, and give ear to my cry for help; do not be deaf to my weeping. For I am a foreigner dwelling with You, a stranger like all my fathers.

13Turn Your gaze away from me, that I may again be cheered before I depart and am no more.”