391 “Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth?
Do you watch when the doe bears fawns? 2 Can you number the months that they fulfill?
Or do you know the time when they give birth? 3 They bow themselves, they bring forth their young,
they end their labor pains. 4 Their young ones become strong.
They grow up in the open field.
They go forth, and don’t return again. 5 “Who has set the wild donkey free?
Or who has loosened the bonds of the swift donkey, 6 Whose home I have made the wilderness,
and the salt land his dwelling place? 7 He scorns the tumult of the city,
neither does he hear the shouting of the driver. 8 The range of the mountains is his pasture,
He searches after every green thing. 9 “Will the wild ox be content to serve you?
Or will he stay by your feeding trough? 10 Can you hold the wild ox in the furrow with his harness?
Or will he till the valleys after you? 11 Will you trust him, because his strength is great?
Or will you leave to him your labor? 12 Will you confide in him, that he will bring home your seed,
and gather the grain of your threshing floor?

13 “The wings of the ostrich wave proudly;
but are they the feathers and plumage of love? 14 For she leaves her eggs on the earth,
warms them in the dust, 15 and forgets that the foot may crush them,
or that the wild animal may trample them. 16 She deals harshly with her young ones, as if they were not hers.
Though her labor is in vain, she is without fear, 17 because God has deprived her of wisdom,
neither has he imparted to her understanding. 18 When she lifts up herself on high,
she scorns the horse and his rider.

19 “Have you given the horse might?
Have you clothed his neck with a quivering mane? 20 Have you made him to leap as a locust?
The glory of his snorting is awesome. 21 He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength.
He goes out to meet the armed men. 22 He mocks at fear, and is not dismayed,
neither does he turn back from the sword. 23 The quiver rattles against him,
the flashing spear and the javelin. 24 He eats up the ground with fierceness and rage,
neither does he stand still at the sound of the trumpet. 25 As often as the trumpet sounds he snorts, ‘Aha!’
He smells the battle afar off,
the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

26 “Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars,
and stretches her wings toward the south? 27 Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up,
and makes his nest on high? 28 On the cliff he dwells, and makes his home,
on the point of the cliff, and the stronghold. 29 From there he spies out the prey.
His eyes see it afar off. 30 His young ones also suck up blood.
Where the slain are, there he is.”

Job Bewails His Birth

31 After this Job opened his mouth, and cursed the day of his birth. 2 Job answered: 3 “Let the day perish in which I was born,
the night which said, ‘There is a boy conceived.’ 4 Let that day be darkness.
Don’t let God from above seek for it,
neither let the light shine on it. 5 Let darkness and the shadow of death claim it for their own.
Let a cloud dwell on it.
Let all that makes black the day terrify it. 6 As for that night, let thick darkness seize on it.
Let it not rejoice among the days of the year.
Let it not come into the number of the months. 7 Behold, let that night be barren.
Let no joyful voice come therein. 8 Let them curse it who curse the day,
who are ready to rouse up leviathan. 9 Let the stars of its twilight be dark.
Let it look for light, but have none,
neither let it see the eyelids of the morning, 10 because it didn’t shut up the doors of my mother’s womb,
nor did it hide trouble from my eyes.

11 “Why didn’t I die from the womb?
Why didn’t I give up the spirit when my mother bore me? 12 Why did the knees receive me?
Or why the breast, that I should suck? 13 For now should I have lain down and been quiet.
I should have slept, then I would have been at rest, 14 with kings and counselors of the earth,
who built up waste places for themselves; 15 or with princes who had gold,
who filled their houses with silver: 16 or as a hidden untimely birth I had not been,
as infants who never saw light. 17 There the wicked cease from troubling.
There the weary are at rest. 18 There the prisoners are at ease together.
They don’t hear the voice of the taskmaster. 19 The small and the great are there.
The servant is free from his master.

20 “Why is light given to him who is in misery,
life to the bitter in soul, 21 Who long for death, but it doesn’t come;
and dig for it more than for hidden treasures, 22 who rejoice exceedingly,
and are glad, when they can find the grave? 23 Why is light given to a man whose way is hid,
whom God has hedged in? 24 For my sighing comes before I eat.
My groanings are poured out like water. 25 For the thing which I fear comes on me,
That which I am afraid of comes to me. 26 I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither have I rest;
but trouble comes.”