The LORD continues

When do mountain goats give birth?

1When do mountain goats

and deer give birth?

Have you been there

when their young are born?

2-3How long are they pregnant

before they deliver?

4Soon their young grow strong

and then leave

to be on their own.

5Who set wild donkeys free?

6I alone help them survive

in salty desert sand.

7They stay far from crowded cities

and refuse to be tamed.

8Instead, they roam the hills,

searching for pasture land.

9Would a wild ox agree

to live in your barn

and labour for you?

10Could you force him to plough

or to drag a heavy log

to smooth out the soil?

11Can you depend on him

to use his great strength

and do your heavy work?

12Can you trust him

to harvest your grain

or take it to your barn

from the threshing place?

An ostrich proudly flaps her wings

13An ostrich proudly

flaps her wings,

but not because

she loves her young.

14She abandons her eggs

and lets the dusty ground

keep them warm.

15And she doesn't seem to worry

that the feet of an animal

could crush them all.

16She treats her eggs as though

they were not her own,

unconcerned that her work

might be for nothing.

17I myself made her foolish

and without common sense.

18But once she starts running,39.18 starts running: One possible meaning for the difficult Hebrew text.

she laughs at a rider

on the fastest horse.

Did you give horses their strength?

19Did you give horses their strength

and the flowing hair

along their necks?

20Did you make them able

to jump like grasshoppers

or to frighten people

with their snorting?

21Before horses are ridden

into battle,

they paw at the ground,

proud of their strength.

22Laughing at fear, they rush

towards the fighting,

23while the weapons of their riders

rattle and flash in the sun.

24Unable to stand still,

they gallop eagerly into battle

when trumpets blast.

25Stirred by the distant smells

and sounds of war, they snort

in reply to the trumpet.

26Did you teach hawks to fly south

for the winter?

27-28Did you train eagles39.27,28 eagles: Or “vultures”. to build

their nests on rocky cliffs,

29where they can look down

to spot their next meal?

30Then their young gather to feast39.30: Mt 24.28; Lk 17.37.

wherever the victim lies.