English Standard Version

New Living Translation

1“Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the does?

1“Do you know when the wild goats give birth? Have you watched as deer are born in the wild?

2Can you number the months that they fulfill, and do you know the time when they give birth,

2Do you know how many months they carry their young? Are you aware of the time of their delivery?

3when they crouch, bring forth their offspring, and are delivered of their young?

3They crouch down to give birth to their young and deliver their offspring.

4Their young ones become strong; they grow up in the open; they go out and do not return to them.

4Their young grow up in the open fields, then leave home and never return.

5“Who has let the wild donkey go free? Who has loosed the bonds of the swift donkey,

5“Who gives the wild donkey its freedom? Who untied its ropes?

6to whom I have given the arid plain for his home and the salt land for his dwelling place?

6I have placed it in the wilderness; its home is the wasteland.

7He scorns the tumult of the city; he hears not the shouts of the driver.

7It hates the noise of the city and has no driver to shout at it.

8He ranges the mountains as his pasture, and he searches after every green thing.

8The mountains are its pastureland, where it searches for every blade of grass.

9“Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will he spend the night at your manger?

9“Will the wild ox consent to being tamed? Will it spend the night in your stall?

10Can you bind him in the furrow with ropes, or will he harrow the valleys after you?

10Can you hitch a wild ox to a plow? Will it plow a field for you?

11Will you depend on him because his strength is great, and will you leave to him your labor?

11Given its strength, can you trust it? Can you leave and trust the ox to do your work?

12Do you have faith in him that he will return your grain and gather it to your threshing floor?

12Can you rely on it to bring home your grain and deliver it to your threshing floor?

13“The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the pinions and plumage of love?

13“The ostrich flaps her wings grandly, but they are no match for the feathers of the stork.

14For she leaves her eggs to the earth and lets them be warmed on the ground,

14She lays her eggs on top of the earth, letting them be warmed in the dust.

15forgetting that a foot may crush them and that the wild beast may trample them.

15She doesn’t worry that a foot might crush them or a wild animal might destroy them.

16She deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers; though her labor be in vain, yet she has no fear,

16She is harsh toward her young, as if they were not her own. She doesn’t care if they die.

17because God has made her forget wisdom and given her no share in understanding.

17For God has deprived her of wisdom. He has given her no understanding.

18When she rouses herself to flee, she laughs at the horse and his rider.

18But whenever she jumps up to run, she passes the swiftest horse with its rider.

19“Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with a mane?

19“Have you given the horse its strength or clothed its neck with a flowing mane?

20Do you make him leap like the locust? His majestic snorting is terrifying.

20Did you give it the ability to leap like a locust? Its majestic snorting is terrifying!

21He paws in the valley and exults in his strength; he goes out to meet the weapons.

21It paws the earth and rejoices in its strength when it charges out to battle.

22He laughs at fear and is not dismayed; he does not turn back from the sword.

22It laughs at fear and is unafraid. It does not run from the sword.

23Upon him rattle the quiver, the flashing spear, and the javelin.

23The arrows rattle against it, and the spear and javelin flash.

24With fierceness and rage he swallows the ground; he cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet.

24It paws the ground fiercely and rushes forward into battle when the ram’s horn blows.

25When the trumpet sounds, he says ‘Aha!’ He smells the battle from afar, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

25It snorts at the sound of the horn. It senses the battle in the distance. It quivers at the captain’s commands and the noise of battle.

26“Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars and spreads his wings toward the south?

26“Is it your wisdom that makes the hawk soar and spread its wings toward the south?

27Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high?

27Is it at your command that the eagle rises to the heights to make its nest?

28On the rock he dwells and makes his home, on the rocky crag and stronghold.

28It lives on the cliffs, making its home on a distant, rocky crag.

29From there he spies out the prey; his eyes behold it from far away.

29From there it hunts its prey, keeping watch with piercing eyes.

30His young ones suck up blood, and where the slain are, there is he.”

30Its young gulp down blood. Where there’s a carcass, there you’ll find it.”

ESV Text Edition: 2016. The ESV® Bible (The Holy Bible, English Standard Version®) copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. The ESV® text has been reproduced in cooperation with and by permission of Good News Publishers. Unauthorized reproduction of this publication is prohibited. All rights reserved.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.