[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.”