39:1 "Do you know when the mountain goats bring forth? Do you observe the calving of the hinds? |
39:2 Can you number the months that they fulfil, and do you know the time when they bring forth, |
39:3 when they crouch, bring forth their offspring, and are delivered of their young? |
39:4 Their young ones become strong, they grow up in the open; they go forth, and do not return to them. |
39:5 "Who has let the wild ass go free? Who has loosed the bonds of the swift ass, |
39:6 to whom I have given the steppe for his home, and the salt land for his dwelling place? |
39:7 He scorns the tumult of the city; he hears not the shouts of the driver. |
39:8 He ranges the mountains as his pasture, and he searches after every green thing. |
39:9 "Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will he spend the night at your crib? |
39:10 Can you bind him in the furrow with ropes, or will he harrow the valleys after you? |
39:11 Will you depend on him because his strength is great, and will you leave to him your labor? |
39:12 Do you have faith in him that he will return, and bring your grain to your threshing floor? |
39:13 "The wings of the ostrich wave proudly; but are they the pinions and plumage of love? |
39:14 For she leaves her eggs to the earth, and lets them be warmed on the ground, |
39:15 forgetting that a foot may crush them, and that the wild beast may trample them. |
39:16 She deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers; though her labor be in vain, yet she has no fear; |
39:17 because God has made her forget wisdom, and given her no share in understanding. |
39:18 When she rouses herself to flee, she laughs at the horse and his rider. |
39:19 "Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with strength? |
39:20 Do you make him leap like the locust? His majestic snorting is terrible. |
39:21 He paws in the valley, and exults in his strength; he goes out to meet the weapons. |
39:22 He laughs at fear, and is not dismayed; he does not turn back from the sword. |
39:23 Upon him rattle the quiver, the flashing spear and the javelin. |
39:24 With fierceness and rage he swallows the ground; he cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet. |
39:25 When the trumpet sounds, he says 'Aha!' He smells the battle from afar, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting. |
39:26 "Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars, and spreads his wings toward the south? |
39:27 Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high? |
39:28 On the rock he dwells and makes his home in the fastness of the rocky crag. |
39:29 Thence he spies out the prey; his eyes behold it afar off. |
39:30 His young ones suck up blood; and where the slain are, there is he." |