1 "Do you know when the wild goats of the rocks give birth? Do you keep watch while the deer are calving?
2 Can you number the months they complete? Do you know the time they give birth,
3 when they bow down, bring forth their young and send away their pangs?
4 Their young thrive and grow up in the open; they go out and do not come back to them.
5 Who let the wild donkey go free? Who untied the ropes of the swift donkey,
6 whose home I made the wilderness, and the salt flats his dwelling place?
7 He scorns the noise of the town; he does not hear a driver's shouting.
8 He ranges the mountains for his pasture and looks for anything green.
9 Is the wild ox willing to be your servant? Will he stay the night by your feeding trough?
10 Can you tie the wild ox in the furrow with a rope? Will he break up the clods of the valleys after you?
11 Will you depend on him because his strength is great, and hand over your heavy work to him?
12 Will you count on him to bring back your seed and gather it to your threshing floor?
13 The ostrich's wings beat gladly, but is hers the pinion and plumage of the stork?
14 For she abandons her eggs to the earth and lets them warm in the dust,
15 forgetting that a foot might crush them, or a wild animal tread on them.
16 She is hard on her young as though they were not her own; she does not worry that her labor may be for nothing,
17 for God has withheld wisdom from her and allotted her no understanding.
18 Yet when she lifts herself up to run, she mocks the horse and its rider.
19 Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with a quivering mane?
20 Do you make him spring like a locust? The splendor of his snorting is terrible.
21 He paws the valley floor and delights in his strength; he charges out to face the weapons.
22 He laughs at fear and is not alarmed; he does not shy away from the sword.
23 Above him the quiver rattles, with the glinting spear and the javelin.
24 In a frenzy of excitement he devours the ground; he cannot be held when the trumpet blows.
25 At each blast of the trumpet he says, 'Aha!' From far off he scents the battle, the thunder of commanders and the war cry.
26 Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars and spreads its wings to the south?
27 Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes its nest on high?
28 On the cliff he lives and lodges, on the jagged rock, his fortress.
29 From there he searches for food; his eyes spot it from a distance.
30 His young ones slurp up blood, and wherever the slain are, he is there."