39:1 Have you knowledge of the rock-goats? or do you see the roes giving birth to their young?
39:2 Is the number of their months fixed by you? or is the time when they give birth ordered by you?
39:3 They are bent down, they give birth to their young, they let loose the fruit of their body.
39:4 Their young ones are strong, living in the open country; they go out and do not come back again.
39:5 Who has let the ass of the fields go free? or made loose the bands of the loud-voiced beast?
39:6 To whom I have given the waste land for a heritage, and the salt land as a living-place.
39:7 He makes sport of the noise of the town; the voice of the driver does not come to his ears;
39:8 He goes looking for his grass-lands in the mountains, searching out every green thing.
39:9 Will the ox of the mountains be your servant? or is his night's resting-place by your food-store?
39:10 Will he be pulling your plough with cords, turning up the valleys after you?
39:11 Will you put your faith in him, because his strength is great? will you give the fruit of your work into his care?
39:12 Will you be looking for him to come back, and get in your seed to the crushing-floor?
39:13 Is the wing of the ostrich feeble, or is it because she has no feathers,
39:14 That she puts her eggs on the earth, warming them in the dust,
39:15 Without a thought that they may be crushed by the foot, and broken by the beasts of the field?
39:16 She is cruel to her young ones, as if they were not hers; her work is to no purpose; she has no fear.
39:17 For God has taken wisdom from her mind, and given her no measure of knowledge.
39:18 When she is shaking her wings on high, she makes sport of the horse and of him who is seated on him.
39:19 Do you give strength to the horse? is it by your hand that his neck is clothed with power?
39:20 Is it through you that he is shaking like a locust, in the pride of his loud-sounding breath?
39:21 He is stamping with joy in the valley; he makes sport of fear.
39:22 In his strength he goes out against the arms of war, turning not away from the sword.
39:23 The bow is sounding against him; he sees the shining point of spear and arrow.
39:24 Shaking with passion, he is biting the earth; he is not able to keep quiet at the sound of the horn;
39:25 When it comes to his ears he says, Aha! He is smelling the fight from far off, and hearing the thunder of the captains, and the war-cries.
39:26 Is it through your knowledge that the hawk takes his flight, stretching out his wings to the south?
39:27 Or is it by your orders that the eagle goes up, and makes his resting-place on high?
39:28 On the rock is his house, and on the mountain-top his strong place.
39:29 From there he is watching for food; his eye sees it far off.
39:30 His young have blood for their drink, and where the dead bodies are, there is he to be seen.
GOTO NEXT CHAPTER - BBE INDEX & SEARCH