章 |
39:1 |
"Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the deer?
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39:2 |
Can you number the months that they fulfill, and do you know the time when they give birth,
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39:3 |
when they crouch to give birth to their offspring, and are delivered of their young?
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39:4 |
Their young ones become strong, they grow up in the open; they go forth, and do not return to them.
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39:5 |
"Who has let the wild ass go free? Who has loosed the bonds of the swift ass,
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39:6 |
to which I have given the steppe for its home, the salt land for its dwelling place?
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39:7 |
It scorns the tumult of the city; it does not hear the shouts of the driver.
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39:8 |
It ranges the mountains as its pasture, and it searches after every green thing.
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39:9 |
"Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will it spend the night at your crib?
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39:10 |
Can you tie it in the furrow with ropes, or will it harrow the valleys after you?
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39:11 |
Will you depend on it because its strength is great, and will you hand over your labor to it?
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39:12 |
Do you have faith in it that it will return, and bring your grain to your threshing floor?
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39:13 |
"The ostrich's wings flap wildly, though its pinions lack plumage.
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39:14 |
For it leaves its eggs to the earth, and lets them be warmed on the ground,
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39:15 |
forgetting that a foot may crush them, and that a wild animal may trample them.
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39:16 |
It deals cruelly with its young, as if they were not its own; though its labor should be in vain, yet it has no fear;
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39:17 |
because God has made it forget wisdom, and given it no share in understanding.
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39:18 |
When it spreads its plumes aloft, it laughs at the horse and its rider.
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39:19 |
"Do you give the horse its might? Do you clothe its neck with mane?
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39:20 |
Do you make it leap like the locust? Its majestic snorting is terrible.
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39:21 |
It paws violently, exults mightily; it goes out to meet the weapons.
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39:22 |
It laughs at fear, and is not dismayed; it does not turn back from the sword.
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39:23 |
Upon it rattle the quiver, the flashing spear, and the javelin.
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39:24 |
With fierceness and rage it swallows the ground; it cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet.
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39:25 |
When the trumpet sounds, it says 'Aha!' From a distance it smells the battle, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
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39:26 |
"Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars, and spreads its wings toward the south?
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39:27 |
Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes its nest on high?
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39:28 |
It lives on the rock and makes its home in the fastness of the rocky crag.
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39:29 |
From there it spies the prey; its eyes see it from far away.
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39:30 |
Its young ones suck up blood; and where the slain are, there it is."
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