Study

39

“Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?

Do you observe the calving of the deer?

2

Can you number the months that they fulfill,

and do you know the time when they give birth,

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when they crouch to give birth to their offspring,

and are delivered of their young?

4

Their young ones become strong, they grow up in the open;

they go forth, and do not return to them.

 

5

“Who has let the wild ass go free?

Who has loosed the bonds of the swift ass,

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to which I have given the steppe for its home,

the salt land for its dwelling place?

7

It scorns the tumult of the city;

it does not hear the shouts of the driver.

8

It ranges the mountains as its pasture,

and it searches after every green thing.

 

9

“Is the wild ox willing to serve you?

Will it spend the night at your crib?

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Can you tie it in the furrow with ropes,

or will it harrow the valleys after you?

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Will you depend on it because its strength is great,

and will you hand over your labor to it?

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Do you have faith in it that it will return,

and bring your grain to your threshing floor?

 

13

“The ostrich’s wings flap wildly,

though its pinions lack plumage.

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For it leaves its eggs to the earth,

and lets them be warmed on the ground,

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forgetting that a foot may crush them,

and that a wild animal may trample them.

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It deals cruelly with its young, as if they were not its own;

though its labor should be in vain, yet it has no fear;

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because God has made it forget wisdom,

and given it no share in understanding.

18

When it spreads its plumes aloft,

it laughs at the horse and its rider.

 

19

“Do you give the horse its might?

Do you clothe its neck with mane?

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Do you make it leap like the locust?

Its majestic snorting is terrible.

21

It paws violently, exults mightily;

it goes out to meet the weapons.

22

It laughs at fear, and is not dismayed;

it does not turn back from the sword.

23

Upon it rattle the quiver,

the flashing spear, and the javelin.

24

With fierceness and rage it swallows the ground;

it cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet.

25

When the trumpet sounds, it says ‘Aha!’

From a distance it smells the battle,

the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

 

26

“Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars,

and spreads its wings toward the south?

27

Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up

and makes its nest on high?

28

It lives on the rock and makes its home

in the fastness of the rocky crag.

29

From there it spies the prey;

its eyes see it from far away.

30

Its young ones suck up blood;

and where the slain are, there it is.”