Job 38:39-39:12

New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition

³⁹ “Can you hunt the prey for the lion
    or satisfy the appetite of the young lions,^(A)
40 when they crouch in their dens
    or lie in wait in their covert?^(B)
41 Who provides for the raven its prey,
    when its young ones cry to God
    and wander about for lack of food?^(C)

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

⁵ “Who has let the wild ass go free?
    Who has loosed the bonds of the swift ass,^(F)
6 to which I have given the steppe for its home,
    the salt land for its dwelling place?^(G)
7 It scorns the tumult of the city;
    it does not hear the shouts of the driver.
⁸ It ranges the mountains as its pasture,
    and it searches after every green thing.

⁹ “Is the wild ox willing to serve you?
    Will it spend the night at your crib?^(H)
10 Can you tie it in the furrow with ropes,
    or will it harrow the valleys after you?
¹¹ Will you depend on it because its strength is great,
    and will you hand over your labor to it?
¹² Do you have faith in it that it will return
    and bring your grain to your threshing floor?^[a]