1Do you know when mountain goats give birth?

Have you watched the deer in labor?

2Can you count the months they are pregnantA

so you can know the time they give birth?

3They crouch down to give birth to their young;

they deliver their newborn.A

4Their offspring are healthy and grow up in the open field.

They leave and do not return.A

5Who set the wild donkey free?

Who released the swift donkey from its harness?

6I made the deserta its home,

and the saltyb wasteland its dwelling.

7It scoffs at the noise of the village

and never hears the shouts of a driver.a

8It roams the mountains for its pastureland,

searching for anything green.

9Would the wild ox be willing to serve you?

Would it spend the night by your feeding trough?

10Can you hold the wild oxa to a furrow by its harness?

Will it plow the valleys behind you?

11Can you depend on it because its strength is great?

Would you leave it to do your hard work?

12Can you trust the wild ox to harvest your grain

and bring it to your threshing floor?

13The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully,

but are her feathers and plumage like the stork’s?a a

14She abandons her eggs on the ground

and lets them be warmed in the sand.

15She forgets that a foot may crush them

or that some wild animal may trample them.

16She treats her young harshly, as if they were not her own,

with no fear that her labor may have been in vain.

17For God has deprived her of wisdom;

he has not endowed her with understanding.a

18When she proudlyA spreads her wings,

she laughs at the horse and its rider.

19Do you give strength to the horse?

Do you adorn his neck with a mane?A

20Do you make him leap like a locust?

His proud snorting fills one with terror.

21He pawsA in the valley and rejoices in his strength;

he charges into battle.B

22He laughs at fear, since he is afraid of nothing;

he does not run from the sword.

23A quiver rattles at his side,

along with a flashing spear and a javelin.

24He charges aheadA with trembling rage;

he cannot stand still at the sound of the ram’s horn.

25When the ram’s horn blasts, he snorts defiantly.A

He smells the battle from a distance;

he hears the officers’ shouts and the battle cry.

26Does the hawk take flight by your understanding

and spread its wings to the south?

27Does the eagle soar at your command

and make its nesta on high?

28It lives on a cliff where it spends the night;

its stronghold is on a rocky crag.

29From there it searches for prey;a

its eyes penetrate the distance.

30Its brood gulps down blood,

and where the slain are, it is there.a