Job 39

¹"Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears her fawn?

²Do you count the months till they bear? Do you know the time they give birth?

³They crouch down and bring forth their young; their labor pains are ended.

⁴Their young thrive and grow strong in the wilds; they leave and do not return.

⁵"Who let the wild donkey go free? Who untied his ropes?

⁶I gave him the wasteland as his home, the salt flats as his habitat.

⁷He laughs at the commotion in the town; he does not hear a driver's shout.

⁸He ranges the hills for his pasture and searches for any green thing.

⁹"Will the wild ox consent to serve you? Will he stay by your manger at night?

¹⁰Can you hold him to the furrow with a harness? Will he till the valleys behind you?

¹¹Will you rely on him for his great strength? Will you leave your heavy work to him?

¹²Can you trust him to bring in your grain and gather it to your threshing floor?

¹³"The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, but they cannot compare with the pinions and feathers of the stork.

¹⁴She lays her eggs on the ground and lets them warm in the sand,

¹⁵unmindful that a foot may crush them, that some wild animal may trample them.

¹⁶She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers; she cares not that her labor was in vain,

¹⁷for God did not endow her with wisdom or give her a share of good sense.

¹⁸Yet when she spreads her feathers to run, she laughs at horse and rider.

¹⁹"Do you give the horse his strength or clothe his neck with a flowing mane?

²⁰Do you make him leap like a locust, striking terror with his proud snorting?

²¹He paws fiercely, rejoicing in his strength, and charges into the fray.

²²He laughs at fear, afraid of nothing; he does not shy away from the sword.

²³The quiver rattles against his side, along with the flashing spear and lance.

²⁴In frenzied excitement he eats up the ground; he cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.

²⁵At the blast of the trumpet he snorts, 'Aha!' He catches the scent of battle from afar, the shout of commanders and the battle cry.

²⁶"Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom and spread his wings toward the south?

²⁷Does the eagle soar at your command and build his nest on high?

²⁸He dwells on a cliff and stays there at night; a rocky crag is his stronghold.

²⁹From there he seeks out his food; his eyes detect it from afar.

³⁰His young ones feast on blood, and where the slain are, there is he."