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“Do you know the time when the wild mountain goats bear young? Or can you mark when the deer gives birth?
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2 |
Can you number the months that they fulfill? Or do you know the time when they bear young?
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3 |
They bow down, They bring forth their young, They deliver their offspring.
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4 |
Their young ones are healthy, They grow strong with grain; They depart and do not return to them.
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5 |
“Who set the wild donkey free? Who loosed the bonds of the onager,
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6 |
Whose home I have made the wilderness, And the barren land his dwelling?
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7 |
He scorns the tumult of the city; He does not heed the shouts of the driver.
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8 |
The range of the mountains is his pasture, And he searches after every green thing.
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9 |
“Will the wild ox be willing to serve you? Will he bed by your manger?
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10 |
Can you bind the wild ox in the furrow with ropes? Or will he plow the valleys behind you?
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11 |
Will you trust him because his strength is great? Or will you leave your labor to him?
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12 |
Will you trust him to bring home your grain, And gather it to your threshing floor?
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13 |
“The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, But are her wings and pinions like the kindly stork’s?
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14 |
For she leaves her eggs on the ground, And warms them in the dust;
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15 |
She forgets that a foot may crush them, Or that a wild beast may break them.
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16 |
She treats her young harshly, as though they were not hers; Her labor is in vain, without concern,
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17 |
Because God deprived her of wisdom, And did not endow her with understanding.
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18 |
When she lifts herself on high, She scorns the horse and its rider.
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19 |
“Have you given the horse strength? Have you clothed his neck with thunder?
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20 |
Can you frighten him like a locust? His majestic snorting strikes terror.
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21 |
He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength; He gallops into the clash of arms.
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22 |
He mocks at fear, and is not frightened; Nor does he turn back from the sword.
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23 |
The quiver rattles against him, The glittering spear and javelin.
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24 |
He devours the distance with fierceness and rage; Nor does he come to a halt because the trumpet has sounded.
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25 |
At the blast of the trumpet he says, ‘Aha!’ He smells the battle from afar, The thunder of captains and shouting.
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26 |
“Does the hawk fly by your wisdom, And spread its wings toward the south?
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27 |
Does the eagle mount up at your command, And make its nest on high?
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28 |
On the rock it dwells and resides, On the crag of the rock and the stronghold.
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29 |
From there it spies out the prey; Its eyes observe from afar.
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30 |
Its young ones suck up blood; And where the slain are, there it is.”
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