Yahweh Speaks of His Creation

1“ Do you know the time of the bearing of the goats of the rock?

Can you observe the twisting of the does?

2Can you number the months they fulfill?

Or do you know the time of their giving birth?

3They bend down and squeeze out their young;

their labor pains they send forth.

4Their young ones are healthy; they increase in the field;

they go forth and do not return to them.

5Who sent away the wild donkey free?

And who opened the bonds of the swift donkey,

6whose I have made the Arabah house,

the salt land as his dwelling?

7He laughs at the tumult of the city;

the shouts of the driver he does not hear.

8He searches out the mountains for his pasture,

and after every green thing he searches.

9Is the wild ox willing to serve you,

or will he lodge by your manger?

10Can you bind the wild ox in the furrow with a cord,

or will he harrow the valleys after you?

11Will you trust in him because his strength is great,

and will you leave to him your labor?

12Will you trust in him that he will bring back your grain

and gather it to your threshing floor?

13The wings of the ostrich rejoice,

but are not the pinions† of a stork and its feathers.

14For she leaves her eggs on the ground,

and upon the dust she warms them,

15and she forgets that a foot may crush it,

or that a creature of the field might tread over it.

16Her young she treats harshly as though not unto her;

her labor is in vain, without dread;

17for God made her forget wisdom,

and He has not given a portion to her in understanding.

18At the time she lifts herself up on high,

she laughs at the horse and at its rider.

19Have you given the horse strength?

Did you clothe his neck with a mane?

20Can you cause him to rush like a locust?

The majesty of his snorting is terror.

21They dig in the valley, and he rejoices in strength;

he goes forth to meet the weaponry.

22He laughs at dread and is not dismayed;

he does not turn back from the face of the sword.

23Upon him rattles the quiver,

the flame of the spear and lance.†

24With quaking and raging he swallows the ground;

he cannot stand still because of the voice of the shofar.

25In the abundance of the shofar, he says, ‘Aha!†’

And from afar He smells the battle,

the thunder of captains and shouting.

26By your understanding does the hawk soar

and spread his wings toward the south?

27Is it by your mouth that the eagle mounts up

and makes his nest on high?

28In the rock he dwells and lodges

and his stronghold is upon the tooth of the rock.

29From there he searches out food;

from afar his eyes observe.

30And his young ones suck up blood;

and where the slain are, there he is.”