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"Do you know when 1the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe 2the calving of the does?
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Can you number the months that they fulfill, and do you know the time when they give birth,
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when they 3crouch, bring forth their offspring, and are delivered of their young?
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Their young ones become strong; they grow up in the open; they go out and 4do not return to them.
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"Who has let the wild donkey go free? Who has 5loosed the bonds of the swift donkey,
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to whom I have given 6the arid plain for his home and 7the salt land for his dwelling place?
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He scorns the tumult of the city; he hears not the shouts of the driver.
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He ranges the mountains as his pasture, and he searches after every green thing.
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"Is 8the wild ox willing to serve you? Will he spend the night at your 9manger?
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Can you bind 10him in the furrow with ropes, or will he harrow the valleys after you?
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Will you depend on him because his strength is great, and will you leave to him your labor?
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Do you have faith in him that he will return your grain and gather it to your threshing floor?
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"The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the pinions and plumage of love?
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For she leaves her eggs to the earth and lets them be warmed on the ground,
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forgetting that a foot may crush them and that the wild beast may trample them.
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She 11deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers; though her 12labor be in vain, yet she has no fear,
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because God has made her forget wisdom and 13given her no share in understanding.
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When she rouses herself to flee, she laughs at the horse and his rider.
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"Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with a mane?
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Do you make him leap like the locust? His majestic 14snorting is terrifying.
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He paws in the valley and exults in his strength; he 15goes out to meet the weapons.
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He laughs at fear and is not dismayed; he does not turn back from the sword.
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Upon him rattle the quiver, the flashing spear, and the javelin.
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With fierceness and rage he swallows the ground; he cannot stand still at 16the sound of the trumpet.
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When the trumpet sounds, he says 'Aha!' He smells the battle from afar, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
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"Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars and spreads his wings toward the south?
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Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his 17nest on high?
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On the rock he dwells and makes his home, on 18the rocky crag and stronghold.