- 1“Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears fawns?
- 2Can you number the months that they fulfill? Or do you know the time when they give birth?
- 3They bow themselves, they bear their young. They end their labor pains.
- 4Their young ones become strong. They grow up in the open field. They go out, and don’t return again.
- 5“Who has set the wild donkey free? Or who has loosened the bonds of the swift donkey,
- 6Whose home I have made the wilderness, and the salt land his dwelling place?
- 7He scorns the tumult of the city, neither does he hear the shouting of the driver.
- 8The 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?
- 10Can you hold the wild ox in the furrow with his harness? Or will he till the valleys after you?
- 11Will you trust him, because his strength is great? Or will you leave to him your labor?
- 12Will 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?
- 14For she leaves her eggs on the earth, warms them in the dust,
- 15and forgets that the foot may crush them, or that the wild animal may trample them.
- 16She deals harshly with her young ones, as if they were not hers. Though her labor is in vain, she is without fear,
- 17because God has deprived her of wisdom, neither has he imparted to her understanding.
- 18When 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?
- 20Have you made him to leap as a locust? The glory of his snorting is awesome.
- 21He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength. He goes out to meet the armed men.
- 22He mocks at fear, and is not dismayed, neither does he turn back from the sword.
- 23The quiver rattles against him, the flashing spear and the javelin.
- 24He eats up the ground with fierceness and rage, neither does he stand still at the sound of the trumpet.
- 25As 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?
- 27Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up, and makes his nest on high?
- 28On the cliff he dwells, and makes his home, on the point of the cliff, and the stronghold.
- 29From there he spies out the prey. His eyes see it afar off.
- 30His young ones also suck up blood. Where the slain are, there he is.”