¹“Do you know the time when the mountain goats give birth ?

Do you watch when the doe bears fawns?

²Can you count the months that they fulfil ?

Or do you know the time when they give birth ?

³They bow themselves. They bear their young .

They end their labour pains .

⁴Their young ones become strong .

They grow up in the open field.

They go out , and don’t return again .

⁵“Who has set the wild donkey free ?

Or who has loosened the bonds of the swift donkey ,

⁶whose home I have made the wilderness ,

and the salt land his dwelling place ?

⁷He scorns the tumult of the city ,

neither does he hear the shouting of the driver .

⁸The range of the mountains is his pasture .

He searches after every green thing .

⁹“Will the wild ox be content to serve you ?

Or will he stay by your feeding trough?

¹⁰Can you hold the wild ox in the furrow with his harness?

Or will he till the valleys after you ?

¹¹Will you trust him , because his strength is great ?

Or will you leave to him your labour ?

¹²Will you confide in him , that he will bring home your seed ,

and gather the grain of your threshing floor ?

¹³“The wings of the ostrich wave proudly,

but are they the feathers and plumage of love?

¹⁴For she leaves her eggs on the earth ,

warms them in the dust ,

¹⁵and forgets that the foot may crush them ,

or that the wild animal may trample them .

¹⁶She deals harshly with her young ones , as if they were not hers.

Though her labour is in vain , she is without fear ,

¹⁷because God has deprived her of wisdom ,

neither has he imparted to her understanding.

¹⁸When she lifts up herself on high ,

she scorns the horse and his rider .

¹⁹“Have you given the horse might ?

Have you clothed his neck with a quivering mane ?

²⁰Have you made him to leap as a locust?

The glory of his snorting is awesome.

²¹He paws in the valley , and rejoices in his strength .

He goes out to meet the armed men .

²²He mocks at fear , and is not dismayed ,

neither does he turn back from the sword .

²³The quiver rattles against him ,

the flashing spear and the javelin .

²⁴He eats up the ground with fierceness and rage ,

neither does he stand still at the sound of the trumpet .

²⁵As often as the trumpet sounds he snorts, ‘Aha !’

He smells the battle afar off ,

the thunder of the captains , and the shouting .

²⁶“Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars,

and stretches her wings towards the south ?

²⁷Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up ,

and makes his nest on high ?

²⁸On the cliff he dwells and makes his home,

on the point of the cliff and the stronghold .

²⁹From there he spies out the prey.

His eyes see it afar off .

³⁰His young ones also suck up blood .

Where the slain are , there he is .”