1 “ Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch the deer giving birth?
2 C an you number the months that they carry their young? Or do you know the time when their young are born?
3 T hey get down and give birth to their young, and get rid of their pains.
4 T heir 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 H e hates the noise of the city. He does not hear the calls of the man who drives him.
8 H e goes looking for grass to eat on the mountains. He looks for every green thing.
9 W ill the wild ox be willing to serve you? Will he stay through the night by the food you give him to eat?
10 C an you tie the wild ox to a plow in the field? Will he follow you to plow the valleys?
11 W ill you trust in him because he is very strong, and leave your work to him?
12 W ill 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 F or she leaves her eggs to the earth and lets them get warm in the dust.
15 S he forgets that a foot might crush them, or that the wild animal may step on them.
16 S he 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 B ecause God has not given her wisdom or her share of understanding.
18 W hen 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 D o you make him jump like the locust? The powerful noise he makes with his nostrils fills men with fear.
21 H e hits his foot against the ground in the valley, and has joy in his strength. He goes out to meet the battle.
22 H e laughs at fear and is not afraid. He does not turn back from the sword.
23 T he arrows and spears he carries make noise as they hit together.
24 H e runs fast over the ground with shaking and anger. He cannot stand still at the sound of the horn.
25 W hen 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 I s it because the eagle is obeying you that he flies high and makes his nest in a high place?
28 H e lives on a high rock. His strong place is on the mountain-top that is hard to reach.
29 F rom there he looks for his food. His eyes see it from far away.
30 H e is where dead bodies are and his young ones drink the blood.”