On the Birth of Young

1“Do you know when the mountain goat gives birth?

Do you watch the doe as it calves its young?

2Can you count the months of their gestation?

Do you know the time when they give birth,

3when they crouch downa to give birthb to their offspring,

and let goc of their birth pangs?

4Their young are strong;

they grow up in the open field;

then they go off

and don’t return to them.”

On Wild Animals

5“Who sets the wild donkey free?

Who loosens the bonds of the wild donkey

6to whom I’ve given the Arabahd for a home;

the salt plain for his dwelling place?

7He despises city noises;e

he ignores the shoutsf of the driver.

8He ranges the mountains that are his pasture

to search for anything green.

9Is the wild ox willing to serve you?

Will he sleep at night near your feeding trough?

10Can you bind the ox to plow a furrow with a rope?

Will he harrow after you in the valley?

11Will you trust him because of his great strength

and entrust your labor to him?

12Will you trust him that he’ll bring in your grain,

and gather it to your threshing floor?”

On the Ostrich

13“The wings of the ostrich flap joyously,

but aren’t its pinions and feathers like the stork?

14She abandons her eggs on the ground

and lets them be warmed in the sand,

15but she forgets that a foot might crush them

or any wild animal might trample them.

16She mistreats her young as though they’re not hers,

and she has no fear that her labor may be in vain,

17because God didn’t grant her wisdom

and never gave her understanding.

18And yet when she gets ready to run,

she laughs at the horse and its rider.”

On the Horse

19Do you instill the horse with strength?

Do you clothe its neck with a mane?

20Can you make him leap like the locust,

and make the splendor of his snorting terrifying?

21He paws the groundg in the valley

and rejoices in his strength;

he goes out to face weapons.

22He scoffs at fear

and is never scared;

he never retreats from a sword.

23A quiver of arrows rattles against his side,

along with a flashing spear and a lance.

24Leaping in his excitement, he takes inh the ground;

he cannot stand still when the trumpets sound!

25When the trumpet blasts he’ll neigh, ‘Aha! Aha!’

From a distance he can sense war,

the war cry of generals,i and their shouting.”

On Raptors

26“Is it by your understanding that the hawk flies,

spreading its wings toward the south?

27Does the eagle soar high at your commandj

and build its nest on the highest crags?

28He dwells on the crags where he makes his home,

there on the rocky crag is his stronghold.

29From there he searches for prey,

and his eyes recognize it from a distance.

30His young ones feastk on blood;

he’ll be found wherever there’s a carcass.”l