1 “ Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch the deer giving birth?

¶ Knowest thou the time when the mountain goats bring forth? Hast thou observed when the hinds calve?

2 C an you number the months that they carry their young? Or do you know the time when their young are born?

Canst thou number the months that they fulfil, and knowest thou the time when they bring forth?

3 T hey get down and give birth to their young, and get rid of their pains.

How they crouch down, they bring forth their young ones, and dismiss their pain.

4 T heir young ones become strong. They grow up in the open field. They leave and do not return to them.

Their young ones are healthy, they grow up with grain; they go forth and never return unto them again.

5 “ Who has let the wild donkey go free? Who has taken off the ropes which held the fast donkey?

Who freed the wild ass, and who loosed its bands?

6 I gave him the desert for a home, and the salt land for a place to live.

Unto whom I made a house in the wilderness, and his dwellings in the salty land.

7 H e hates the noise of the city. He does not hear the calls of the man who drives him.

He laughs at the multitude of the city, neither does he hearken to the voice of the exactor of tribute.

8 H e goes looking for grass to eat on the mountains. He looks for every green thing.

The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searches after 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?

Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee or abide by thy crib?

10 C an you tie the wild ox to a plow in the field? Will he follow you to plow the valleys?

Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? Will he harrow the valleys after thee?

11 W ill you trust in him because he is very strong, and leave your work to him?

Wilt thou trust him because his strength is great? Or wilt thou leave thy labour to him?

12 W ill you trust him to return and bring your grain to your grain-floor?

Wilt thou trust him, that he will bring home thy seed and gather it into thy barn?

13 “ The wings of the ostrich wave with joy, but are they the wings of love?

¶ Didst thou give beautiful wings unto the peacock, or wings and feathers unto the ostrich?

14 F or she leaves her eggs to the earth and lets them get warm in the dust.

Who leaves her eggs in the earth and warms them in dust

15 S he forgets that a foot might crush them, or that the wild animal may step on them.

and forgets that the foot may crush them or that the wild beast may break 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.

She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not hers, not fearing that her labour is in vain,

17 B ecause God has not given her wisdom or her share of understanding.

because God caused her to forget wisdom and did not give her understanding.

18 W hen she begins to run, she laughs at the horse and the horseman.

In her time she lifts up herself on high; she scorns the horse and his rider.

19 “ Do you give the horse his strength? Do you dress his neck with long hair?

¶ Hast thou given the horse strength? Hast thou clothed his neck with thunder?

20 D o you make him jump like the locust? The powerful noise he makes with his nostrils fills men with fear.

Canst thou make him leap as a grasshopper? The glory of his nostrils is formidable.

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.

He paws at the earth and rejoices in his strength; he goes forth to meet the armed men.

22 H e laughs at fear and is not afraid. He does not turn back from the sword.

He mocks fear and is not afraid; neither does he turn his face from the sword.

23 T he arrows and spears he carries make noise as they hit together.

The quiver rattles against him, the glittering spear and the shield.

24 H e runs fast over the ground with shaking and anger. He cannot stand still at the sound of the horn.

He swallows the ground with fierceness and rage; the sound of the shofar does not trouble him;

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.

for the blasts of the shofar fill him with courage; he smells the battle afar off, the thunder of the princes and the sound of the battle-cry.

26 “ Is it by your understanding that the hawk flies, spreading his wings toward the south?

¶ Does the hawk fly by thy industry and stretch her 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?

Does the eagle mount up at thy command and make her nest on high?

28 H e lives on a high rock. His strong place is on the mountain-top that is hard to reach.

She dwells and abides on the rock upon the crag of the rock and the strong place.

29 F rom there he looks for his food. His eyes see it from far away.

From there she seeks food, and her eyes behold afar off.

30 H e is where dead bodies are and his young ones drink the blood.”

Her young ones suck up the blood; and wherever the slain are, there she is.