[1] "Do you know when the mountain goats bring forth? Do you observe the
calving of the hinds? [2] Can you number the months that they fulfil, and
do you know the time when they bring forth, [3] when they crouch, bring
forth their offspring, and are delivered of their young? [4] Their young
ones become strong, they grow up in the open; they go forth, and do not
return to them. [5] "Who has let the wild ass go free? Who has loosed the
bonds of the swift ass, [6] to whom I have given the steppe for his home,
and the salt land for his dwelling place? [7] He scorns the tumult of the
city; he hears not the shouts of the driver. [8] He ranges the mountains as
his pasture, and he searches after every green thing. [9] "Is the wild ox
willing to serve you? Will he spend the night at your crib? [10] Can you
bind him in the furrow with ropes, or will he harrow the valleys after you?
[11] Will you depend on him because his strength is great, and will you
leave to him your labor? [12] Do you have faith in him that he will return,
and bring your grain to your threshing floor? [13] "The wings of the
ostrich wave proudly; but are they the pinions and plumage of love? [14]
For she leaves her eggs to the earth, and lets them be warmed on the
ground, [15] forgetting that a foot may crush them, and that the wild beast
may trample them. [16] She deals cruelly with her young, as if they were
not hers; though her labor be in vain, yet she has no fear; [17] because
God has made her forget wisdom, and given her no share in understanding.
[18] When she rouses herself to flee, she laughs at the horse and his
rider. [19] "Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with
strength? [20] Do you make him leap like the locust? His majestic snorting
is terrible. [21] He paws in the valley, and exults in his strength; he
goes out to meet the weapons. [22] He laughs at fear, and is not dismayed;
he does not turn back from the sword. [23] Upon him rattle the quiver, the
flashing spear and the javelin. [24] With fierceness and rage he swallows
the ground; he cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet. [25] When
the trumpet sounds, he says `trumpet sounds, he says "Aha!' He smells the
battle from afar, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting. [26] "Is
it by your wisdom that the hawk soars, and spreads his wings toward the
south? [27] Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his
nest on high? [28] On the rock he dwells and makes his home in the fastness
of the rocky crag. [29] Thence he spies out the prey; his eyes behold it
afar off. [30] His young ones suck up blood; and where the slain are, there
is he."
