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2 Do you count the months they remain pregnant?
Do you know the time when they give birth?
3 They crouch down and bring forth their young,
and their labour pains are ended.
4 Their young are healthy and grow strong in the open country;
they leave and do not return.
5 “Who sets the wild donkey free?
Who released the bonds of the swift donkey?
6 I gave him a home in the wilderness,
the salty wasteland for his dwelling.
7 He scorns the tumult of the city;
he does not hear the driver’s shouting.
8 The range of the mountains holds his pasture,
and he searches after every green thing.
9 “Would the wild ox be willing to serve you?
Will he spend the night by your manger?
10 Can you bind the wild ox in the furrow by a harness?
Will he plough the valleys behind you?
11 Can you depend on him because his strength is great?
Will you leave your heavy labour to him?
12 Can you trust him to harvest your grain
and bring it to your threshing floor?
13 “The wings of the ostrich flap joyously,
but are her pinions and feathers like the stork’s?
14 She leaves her eggs on the ground,
and lets them warm in the sand.
15 She forgets that a foot may crush them,
or that a wild animal may trample them.
16 She treats her young harshly, as if they were not hers;
without concern that her labour was in vain,
17 for God has deprived her of wisdom;
He gave her no share of understanding.
18 Yet when she lifts her wings to run,
she laughs at horse and rider.
19 “Do you give the horse his strength?
Do you adorn his neck with a mane?
20 Do you make him leap like a locust?
His proud snorting is terrible.
21 He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength;
he charges into the fray of battle.
22 He laughs at fear, afraid of nothing;
nor does he turn back from the sword.
23 The quiver rattles against his side,
the flashing spear and lance.
24 He swallows the ground with fierceness and rage;
he cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet.
25 At the blast of the trumpet he says, ‘Aha!’
He smells the battle from far off,
the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
26 “Does the hawk take flight by your wisdom,
and spread her wings toward the south?
27 Does the eagle soar at your command,
and make her nest on high?
28 She dwells and lodges on the cliff,
her stronghold on the rocky crag.
29 From there she spies out the prey;
her eyes see it from afar.
30 Her brood gulp down blood,
and where the slain are, there she is.”