39 “Do you know when the mountain goat gives birth?
    Do you watch the doe as it calves its young?
² Can you count the months of their gestation?
    Do you know the time when they give birth,
³ when they crouch down^[a] to give birth^[b] to their offspring,
    and let go^[c] of their birth pangs?
⁴ Their young are strong;
    they grow up in the open field;
then they go off
    and don’t return to them.”

⁵ “Who sets the wild donkey free?
    Who loosens the bonds of the wild donkey
⁶ to whom I’ve given the Arabah^[d] for a home;
    the salt plain for his dwelling place?
⁷ He despises city noises;^[e]
    he ignores the shouts^[f] of the driver.
⁸ He ranges the mountains that are his pasture
    to search for anything green.
⁹ Is the wild ox willing to serve you?
    Will he sleep at night near your feeding trough?
¹⁰ Can you bind the ox to plow a furrow with a rope?
    Will he harrow after you in the valley?
¹¹ Will you trust him because of his great strength
    and entrust your labor to him?
¹² Will you trust him that he’ll bring in your grain,
    and gather it to your threshing floor?”

¹³ “The wings of the ostrich flap joyously,
    but aren’t its pinions and feathers like the stork?
¹⁴ She abandons her eggs on the ground
    and lets them be warmed in the sand,
¹⁵ but she forgets that a foot might crush them
    or any wild animal might trample them.
¹⁶ She mistreats her young as though they’re not hers,
    and she has no fear that her labor may be in vain,
¹⁷ because God didn’t grant her wisdom
    and never gave her understanding.
¹⁸ And yet when she gets ready to run,
    she laughs at the horse and its rider.”

¹⁹ Do you instill the horse with strength?
    Do you clothe its neck with a mane?
²⁰ Can you make him leap like the locust,
    and make the splendor of his snorting terrifying?
²¹ He paws the ground^[g] in the valley
    and rejoices in his strength;
        he goes out to face weapons.
²² He scoffs at fear
    and is never scared;
        he never retreats from a sword.
²³ A quiver of arrows rattles against his side,
    along with a flashing spear and a lance.
²⁴ Leaping in his excitement, he takes in^[h] the ground;
    he cannot stand still when the trumpets sound!
²⁵ When the trumpet blasts he’ll neigh, ‘Aha! Aha!’
    From a distance he can sense war,
        the war cry of generals,^[i] and their shouting.”

²⁶ “Is it by your understanding that the hawk flies,
    spreading its wings toward the south?
²⁷ Does the eagle soar high at your command^[j]
    and build its nest on the highest crags?
²⁸ He dwells on the crags where he makes his home,
    there on the rocky crag is his stronghold.
²⁹ From there he searches for prey,
    and his eyes recognize it from a distance.
³⁰ His young ones feast^[k] on blood;
    he’ll be found wherever there’s a carcass.”^[l]