Chapter 39

¹Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? dost thou mark the calving of the hinds? ²Dost thou number the months that they fulfil? and knowest thou the time when they bring forth? ³They bow themselves, they give birth to their young ones, they cast out their pains; ⁴Their young ones become strong, they grow up in the open field, they go forth, and return not unto them. ⁵Who hath sent out the wild ass free? and who hath loosed the bands of the onager, ⁶Whose house I made the wilderness, and the salt plain his dwellings? ⁷He laugheth at the tumult of the city, and heareth not the shouts of the driver; ⁸The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searcheth after every green thing. ⁹Will the buffalo be willing to serve thee, or will he lodge by thy crib? ¹⁰Canst thou bind the buffalo with his cord in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee? ¹¹Wilt thou put confidence in him, because his strength is great? and wilt thou leave thy labour to him? ¹²Wilt thou trust him to bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy threshing-floor? ¹³The wing of the ostrich beats joyously -- But is it the stork`s pinion and plumage? ¹⁴For she leaveth her eggs to the earth, and warmeth them in the dust, ¹⁵And forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the beast of the field may trample them. ¹⁶She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers; her labour is in vain, without her concern. ¹⁷For +God hath deprived her of wisdom, and hath not furnished her with understanding. ¹⁸What time she lasheth herself on high, she scorneth the horse and his rider. ¹⁹Hast thou given strength to the horse? hast thou clothed his neck with the quivering mane? ²⁰Dost thou make him to leap as a locust? His majestic snorting is terrible. ²¹He paweth in the valley, and rejoiceth in [his] strength; he goeth forth to meet the armed host. ²²He laugheth at fear, and is not affrighted; neither turneth he back from before the sword. ²³The quiver rattleth upon him, the glittering spear and the javelin. ²⁴He swalloweth the ground with fierceness and rage, and cannot contain himself at the sound of the trumpet: ²⁵At the noise of the trumpets he saith, Aha! and he smelleth the battle afar off, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting. ²⁶Doth the hawk fly by thine intelligence, [and] stretch his wings toward the south? ²⁷Doth the eagle mount up at thy command, and make his nest on high? ²⁸He inhabiteth the rock and maketh his dwelling on the point of the cliff, and the fastness: ²⁹From thence he spieth out the prey, his eyes look into the distance; ³⁰And his young ones suck up blood; and where the slain are, there is he.