Job39

¹“Do you know the time the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the deer?

²Can you count the months they fulfill, Or do you know the time they give birth?

³They kneel down, they deliver their young, They get rid of their labor pains.

⁴Their offspring become strong, they grow up in the open field; They leave and do not return to them.

⁵“Who sent the wild donkey out free? And who opened the bonds of the swift donkey,

⁶To whom I gave the wilderness as his home, And the salt land as his dwelling place?

⁷He laughs at the turmoil of the city, He does not hear the shouting of the taskmaster.

⁸He explores the mountains of his pasture, And searches after every green thing.

⁹Will the wild bull be willing to serve you, Or will he spend the night at your feeding trough?

¹⁰Can you tie down the wild bull in a furrow with ropes, Or will he plow the valleys after you?

¹¹Will you trust him because his strength is great, And leave your labor to him?

¹²Will you have faith in him that he will return your grain And gather it from your threshing floor?

¹³“The wings of the ostrich flap joyously, With the pinion and feathers of love,

¹⁴For she abandons her eggs to the earth And warms them in the dust,

¹⁵And she forgets that a foot may crush them, Or that a wild animal may trample them.

¹⁶She treats her young cruelly, as if they were not hers; Though her labor is for nothing, she is unconcerned,

¹⁷Because God has made her forget wisdom, And has not given her a share of understanding.

¹⁸When she rushes away on high, She laughs at the horse and his rider.

¹⁹“Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with a mane?

²⁰Do you make him leap like locusts? His majestic snorting is frightening.

²¹He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength; He goes out to meet the battle.

²²He laughs at fear and is not dismayed; And he does not turn back from the sword.

²³The quiver rattles against him, The flashing spear and javelin.

²⁴He races over the ground with a roar and fury, And he does not stand still when he hears the sound of the trumpet.

²⁵As often as the trumpet sounds he says, ‘Aha!’ And he senses the battle from afar, And the thunder of the captains and the war cry.

²⁶“Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars, Stretching his wings toward the south?

²⁷Is it at your command that the eagle flies high, And makes his nest on high?

²⁸He dwells and spends his nights on the cliff, On the rocky cliff, an inaccessible place.

²⁹From there he tracks food; His eyes look at it from afar.

³⁰His young ones also lick up blood greedily; And where the slain are, there he is.”