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. 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. 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? 13 "Does the ostrich flap its wings in joy, or do its wings lack feathers? 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. 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. 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." GOD'S WORD® is a copyrighted work of God's Word to the Nations. Quotations are used by permission. Copyright 1995 by God's Word to the Nations. All rights reserved. | |