39.1-4 forms a unit describing the birth and growth of mountain goats.
Do you know when the mountain goats bring forth?: the word translated as when is deleted by Dhorme and others in order to improve the meter of this line. The word is said to be an unintended repetition of the last two consonants of the phrase translated as Do you know. With its deletion the sense is “Do you know the bringing forth (giving birth) of mountain goats?” Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation retain the word so that the reference is to the time when they give birth. The reference may be to the season of the year and is so handled by Bible en français courant; New Jerusalem Bible says “Do you know the season when the mountain goats give birth?”
Mountain goats is literally “goats of the rock.” New Jerusalem Bible, New English Bible, New American Bible, Revised Standard Version, and Good News Translation have “mountain goats,” Moffatt “wild goats,” Dhorme “antelopes of the rock,” and Pope translates “ibex.” Bring forth means “to give birth.” This refers to the female goat giving birth to her young. Good News Translation shifts the focus to the young by asking “… when mountain goats are born?”
In language areas where wild mountain goats are unknown, it may be possible to substitute another animal of a similar nature. If domestic goats are known, it is usually possible to use the same term and qualify them as “wild” or, for example, “goats that run loose in the hills.” This line may be rendered “Do you know the time of the year when wild goats have their young?” or “… give birth to their young?”
Do you observe the calving of the hinds? asks if Job spends his time in the isolated mountains where these wild animals are seldom seen, especially at the time when they give birth to their young. Calving means “to give birth to a calf,” the young of certain kinds of animals such as cows and deer. The word hinds in Hebrew refers to the adult female deer. The matching units of lines a and b are “know … observe,” “female wild goats … female wild deer,” “giving birth … calving.” In translation it may be necessary to substitute another wild animal for the deer if one is known. Line b shifts the thought to a more concrete act. As Good News Translation says, “Have you watched wild deer give birth?” In both lines of verse 1, it is possible to speak of “small wild animals” and “big wild animals” if no substitute animals are available.
Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .