Job 39:1-9

1 "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 hears he 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?

Job 39:1-9 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 39

This chapter treats of various creatures, beasts and birds, which Job had little knowledge of, had no concern in the making of them, and scarcely any power over them; as of the goats and hinds, Job 39:1-4; of the wild ass, Job 39:5-8; of the unicorn, Job 39:9-12; of the peacock and ostrich, Job 39:13-18; of the horse, Job 39:19-25; and of the hawk and eagle, Job 39:26-30.