The LORD Speaks of His Creation

¹ “Do you know when mountain goats give birth?

Have you watched the doe bear her fawn?

² Can you count the months they are pregnant?

Do you know the time they give birth?

³ They crouch down^* and bring forth their young;

they deliver their newborn.

⁴ Their young ones thrive and grow up in the open field;

they leave and do not return.

⁵ Who set the wild donkey free?

Who released the swift donkey from the harness?

⁶ I made the wilderness his home

and the salt flats his dwelling.

⁷ He scorns the tumult of the city

and never hears the shouts of a driver.^*

⁸ He roams the mountains for pasture,

searching for any green thing.

⁹ Will the wild ox consent to serve you?^*

Will he stay by your manger at night?

¹⁰ Can you hold him to the furrow with a harness?

Will he plow the valleys behind you?

¹¹ Can you rely on his great strength?

Will you leave your hard work to him?

¹² Can you trust him to bring in your grain

and gather it to your threshing floor?

¹³ The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully,

but cannot match the pinions and feathers of the stork.

¹⁴ For she leaves her eggs on the ground

and lets them warm in the sand.

¹⁵ She forgets that a foot may crush them,

or a wild animal may trample them.

¹⁶ She treats her young harshly, as if not her own,

with no concern that her labor was in vain.

¹⁷ For God has deprived her of wisdom;

He has not endowed her with understanding.

¹⁸ Yet when she proudly spreads her wings,

she laughs at the horse and its rider.

¹⁹ Do you give strength to the horse

or adorn his neck with a mane?

²⁰ Do you make him leap^* like a locust,

striking terror with his proud^* snorting?

²¹ He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength;

he charges into battle.

²² He laughs^* at fear, frightened^* of nothing;

he does not turn back^* from the sword.

²³ A quiver rattles at his side,

along with a flashing spear and lance.

²⁴ Trembling with excitement, he devours the distance;

he cannot stand still when the ram’s horn sounds.

²⁵ At^* the blast of the horn, he snorts with fervor.

He catches the scent of battle from afar,

the shouts of captains and the cry of war.

²⁶ Does the hawk take flight by your understanding

and spread his wings toward the south?

²⁷ Does the eagle soar at your command

and make his nest on high?

²⁸ He dwells on a cliff and lodges there;

his stronghold is on a rocky crag.

²⁹ From there he spies out food;

his eyes see it from afar.

³⁰ His young ones feast on blood;

and where the slain are, there he is.”