Dual PanelThe Lord continuesWhen do mountain goats give birth?
1When do mountain goats and deer give birth? Have you been there when their young are born?
2How long are they pregnant before they deliver?
3(39:2)
4Soon their young grow strong and then leave to be on their own.
5Who set wild donkeys free?
6I alone help them survive in salty desert sand.
7They stay far from crowded cities and refuse to be tamed.
8Instead, they roam the hills, searching for pasture land.
9Would a wild ox agree to live in your barn and labour for you?
10Could you force him to plough or to drag a heavy log to smooth out the soil?
11Can you depend on him to use his great strength and do your heavy work?
12Can you trust him to harvest your grain or take it to your barn from the threshing place?
An ostrich proudly flaps her wings
13 An ostrich proudly flaps her wings, but not because she loves her young.
14She abandons her eggs and lets the dusty ground keep them warm.
15And she doesn't seem to worry that the feet of an animal could crush them all.
16She treats her eggs as though they were not her own, unconcerned that her work might be for nothing.
17I myself made her foolish and without common sense.
18But once she starts running, she laughs at a rider on the fastest horse.
Did you give horses their strength?
19 Did you give horses their strength and the flowing hair along their necks?
20Did you make them able to jump like grasshoppers or to frighten people with their snorting?
21Before horses are ridden into battle, they paw at the ground, proud of their strength.
22Laughing at fear, they rush towards the fighting,
23while the weapons of their riders rattle and flash in the sun.
24Unable to stand still, they gallop eagerly into battle when trumpets blast.
25Stirred by the distant smells and sounds of war, they snort in reply to the trumpet.
26Did you teach hawks to fly south for the winter?
27Did you train eagles to build their nests on rocky cliffs,
28(39:27)
29where they can look down to spot their next meal?
30Then their young gather to feast wherever the victim lies.