Job 39:1-21

1“Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you watch when the doe bears her fawn?

2Do you count the months till they bear? Do you know the time they give birth?

3They crouch down and bring forth their young; their labor pains are ended.

4Their young thrive and grow strong in the wilds; they leave and do not return.

5“Who let the wild donkey go free? Who untied its ropes?

6I gave it the wasteland as its home, the salt flats as its habitat.

7It laughs at the commotion in the town; it does not hear a driver’s shout.

8It ranges the hills for its pasture and searches for any green thing.

9“Will the wild ox consent to serve you? Will it stay by your manger at night?

10Can you hold it to the furrow with a harness? Will it till the valleys behind you?

11Will you rely on it for its great strength? Will you leave your heavy work to it?

12Can you trust it to haul in your grain and bring it to your threshing floor?

13“The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, though they cannot compare with the wings and feathers of the stork.

14She lays her eggs on the ground and lets them warm in the sand,

15unmindful that a foot may crush them, that some wild animal may trample them.

16She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers; she cares not that her labor was in vain,

17for God did not endow her with wisdom or give her a share of good sense.

18Yet when she spreads her feathers to run, she laughs at horse and rider.

19“Do you give the horse its strength or clothe its neck with a flowing mane?

20Do you make it leap like a locust, striking terror with its proud snorting?

21It paws fiercely, rejoicing in its strength, and charges into the fray.