¹ “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?
Do you watch when the doe bears her fawn?
² Do you count the months till they bear?
Do you know the time they give birth?
³ They crouch down and bring forth their young;
their labor pains are ended.
⁴ Their young thrive and grow strong in the wilds;
they leave and do not return.
⁵ “Who let the wild donkey go free?
Who untied its ropes?
⁶ I gave it the wasteland as its home,
the salt flats as its habitat.
⁷ It laughs at the commotion in the town;
it does not hear a driver’s shout.
⁸ It ranges the hills for its pasture
and searches for any green thing.
⁹ “Will the wild ox consent to serve you?
Will it stay by your manger at night?
¹⁰ Can you hold it to the furrow with a harness?
Will it till the valleys behind you?
¹¹ Will you rely on it for its great strength?
Will you leave your heavy work to it?
¹² Can you trust it to haul in your grain
and bring it to your threshing floor?
¹³ “The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully,
though they cannot compare
with the wings and feathers of the stork.
¹⁴ She lays her eggs on the ground
and lets them warm in the sand,
¹⁵ unmindful that a foot may crush them,
that some wild animal may trample them.
¹⁶ She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers;
she cares not that her labor was in vain,
¹⁷ for God did not endow her with wisdom
or give her a share of good sense.
¹⁸ Yet when she spreads her feathers to run,
she laughs at horse and rider.
¹⁹ “Do you give the horse its strength
or clothe its neck with a flowing mane?
²⁰ Do you make it leap like a locust,
striking terror with its proud snorting?
²¹ It paws fiercely, rejoicing in its strength,
and charges into the fray.
²² It laughs at fear, afraid of nothing;
it does not shy away from the sword.
²³ The quiver rattles against its side,
along with the flashing spear and lance.
²⁴ In frenzied excitement it eats up the ground;
it cannot stand still when the trumpet sounds.
²⁵ At the blast of the trumpet it snorts, ‘Aha!’
It 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 its wings toward the south?
²⁷ Does the eagle soar at your command
and build its nest on high?
²⁸ It dwells on a cliff and stays there at night;
a rocky crag is its stronghold.
²⁹ From there it looks for food;
its eyes detect it from afar.
³⁰ Its young ones feast on blood,
and where the slain are, there it is.”