39TH CHAPTER

The Lord Continues: the Mountain Goats

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

Do you watch the does when they are in labor? 

2  Can you count the months they are pregnant 

or know the time when they’ll give birth? 

3  They kneel down to give birth and deliver their young. 

Then the pain of giving birth is over. 

4  Their young are healthy and grow up in the wild. 

They leave and don’t come back. 

The Wild Donkey

5  “Who lets the wild donkey go free? 

Who unties the ropes of the wild donkey? 

6  I gave it the desert to live in 

and the salt flats as its dwelling place. 

7  It laughs at the noise of the city 

and doesn’t ⸤even⸥ listen to the shouting of its master. 

8  It explores the mountains for its pasture 

and looks for anything green. 

The Wild Ox

9  “Will the wild ox agree to serve you, 

or will it stay at night beside your feeding trough? 

10  Can you guide a wild ox in a furrow, 

or will it plow the valleys behind you? 

11  Can you trust it just because it’s so strong 

or leave your labor to it? 

12  Can you rely on it to bring your grain back 

and take it to your threshing floor?a

The Ostrich

13  “Does the ostrich flap its wings in joy, 

or do its wings lack feathers?b

14  It lays its eggs on the ground 

and warms them in the dust. 

15  It forgets that a foot may crush them 

or a wild animal may trample them. 

16  It acts harshly toward its young as if they weren’t its own. 

It is not afraid that its work is for nothing 

17  because God has deprived it of wisdom 

and did not give it any understanding. 

18  It laughs at the horse and its rider when it gets up to flee. 

The Horse

19  “Can you give strength to a horse 

or dress its neck with a flowing mane? 

20  Can you make it leap like a locust, 

when its snorting causes terror? 

21  It paws in strength and finds joy in its power. 

It charges into battle. 

22  It laughs at fear, 

is afraid of nothing, 

and doesn’t back away from swords. 

23  A quiver of arrows rattles on it 

along with the flashing spear and javelin. 

24  Anxious and excited, the horse eats up the ground 

and doesn’t trust the sound of the ram’s horn. 

25  As often as the horn sounds, the horse says, ‘Aha!’ 

and it smells the battle far away— 

the thundering ⸤orders⸥ of the captains and the battle cries. 

The Birds of Prey

26  “Does your understanding make a bird of prey fly 

and spread its wings toward the south? 

27  Is it by your order that the eagle flies high 

and makes its nest on the heights? 

28  It perches for the night on a cliff. 

Its fortress is on a jagged peak. 

29  From there it seeks food, 

and its eyes see it from far away. 

30  Its young ones feed on blood. 

It is found wherever there are dead bodies.”