1“Do you know when the wild goats give birth? Have you watched the birth-pains of the deer?

2Do you know how many months they carry their young? Do you know the time when they give birth? ²⁷⁶

3They crouch down in labor to deliver their offspring.

4Their young grow strong in the open countryside; they leave and never return.

5Who gave the wild donkey its freedom? Who set it free from its bonds?

6I have given it the wilderness as its home, the salt plains as a place to live.

7It despises the noise of the city; it doesn't need to listen to the shouts of a driver. ²⁷⁷

8It hunts in the mountains for pastureland, searching for all kinds of green plants to eat.

9Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will it spend the night at your manger?

10Can you tie a wild ox to a plow? Can you make it till your fields for you?

11Because it's so powerful can you trust it? Can you depend on it to do your heavy work for you?

12Are you sure it will gather your grain and bring it to your threshing floor?

13The ostrich proudly flaps her wings, but they are nothing like the flight feathers of the stork. ²⁷⁸

14The ostrich abandons her eggs on the ground, leaving them to be warmed in the dust.

15She doesn't think that they can be crushed underfoot, trampled by a wild animal.

16She is tough towards her young, acting as if they didn't belong to her. She doesn't care that all her work was for nothing.

17For I, God, made her forget wisdom—she didn't get her share of intelligence.

18But when she needs to, she can jump up and run, mocking a horse and its rider with her speed.

19Did you give the horse its strength? Did you place a mane upon its neck?

20Did you make it able to jump like a locust? Its loud snorting is terrifying!

21It paws at the ground, rearing up with power as it charges into battle.

22It laughs at fear; it is not frightened at all.

23The quiver full of arrows rattles against it; the spear and the javelin flash in the sunlight.

24Shaking with rage it gallops across the ground; it cannot remain still when the trumpet sounds.

25Whenever the trumpet calls, it is ready; ²⁷⁹he senses the sound of battle from far away, he hears the commanders shouting.

26Is it through your wisdom that the hawk soars, spreading its wings towards the south?

27Do you command the eagle to fly high and make its nest in the summits of the mountains?

28It lives among the cliffs, and roosts on a remote rocky crag.

29From there it spies its prey from far away, fixing its gaze on its victim. Its chicks eagerly swallow blood.

30Where the carcasses are, that's where birds of prey are found.”