¹³ “The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully,
    though they cannot compare
    with the wings and feathers of the stork.^(A)
14 She lays her eggs on the ground
    and lets them warm in the sand,
¹⁵ unmindful that a foot may crush them,
    that some wild animal may trample them.^(B)
16 She treats her young harshly,^(C) as if they were not hers;
    she cares not that her labor was in vain,
¹⁷ for God did not endow her with wisdom
    or give her a share of good sense.^(D)
18 Yet when she spreads her feathers to run,
    she laughs^(E) at horse and rider.

³ Even jackals offer their breasts
    to nurse their young,
but my people have become heartless
    like ostriches in the desert.^(A)

²¹ But desert creatures^(A) will lie there,
    jackals^(B) will fill her houses;
there the owls^(C) will dwell,
    and there the wild goats^(D) will leap about.

¹³ Thorns^(A) will overrun her citadels,
    nettles and brambles her strongholds.^(B)
She will become a haunt for jackals,^(C)
    a home for owls.^(D)

²⁰ The wild animals^(A) honor me,
    the jackals^(B) and the owls,
because I provide water^(C) in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,