The Lord Is Speaking to Job
39 “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch the deer giving birth? 2 Can you number the months that they carry their young? Or do you know the time when their young are born? 3 They get down and give birth to their young, and get rid of their pains. 4 Their young ones become strong. They grow up in the open field. They leave and do not return to them.
5 “Who has let the wild donkey go free? Who has taken off the ropes which held the fast donkey? 6 I gave him the desert for a home, and the salt land for a place to live. 7 He hates the noise of the city. He does not hear the calls of the man who drives him. 8 He goes looking for grass to eat on the mountains. He looks for every green thing. 9 Will the wild ox be willing to serve you? Will he stay through the night by the food you give him to eat? 10 Can you tie the wild ox to a plow in the field? Will he follow you to plow the valleys? 11 Will you trust in him because he is very strong, and leave your work to him? 12 Will you trust him to return and bring your grain to your grain-floor?
13 “The wings of the ostrich wave with joy, but are they the wings of love? 14 For she leaves her eggs to the earth and lets them get warm in the dust. 15 She forgets that a foot might crush them, or that the wild animal may step on them. 16 She is bad in the way she acts toward her young, as if they were not hers. Her work of giving birth is for nothing, for she does not care. 17 Because God has not given her wisdom or her share of understanding. 18 When she begins to run, she laughs at the horse and the horseman.
19 “Do you give the horse his strength? Do you dress his neck with long hair? 20 Do you make him jump like the locust? The powerful noise he makes with his nostrils fills men with fear. 21 He hits his foot against the ground in the valley, and has joy in his strength. He goes out to meet the battle. 22 He laughs at fear and is not afraid. He does not turn back from the sword. 23 The arrows and spears he carries make noise as they hit together. 24 He runs fast over the ground with shaking and anger. He cannot stand still at the sound of the horn. 25 When the horn sounds, he laughs without fear. He smells the battle from far away. He hears the thunder of the captains, and the war cry.
26 “Is it by your understanding that the hawk flies, spreading his wings toward the south? 27 Is it because the eagle is obeying you that he flies high and makes his nest in a high place? 28 He lives on a high rock. His strong place is on the mountain-top that is hard to reach. 29 From there he looks for his food. His eyes see it from far away. 30 He is where dead bodies are and his young ones drink the blood.”