Common English Bible CEB
English Standard Version ESV
1 Do you know when mountain goats give birth; do you observe the birthing of does?
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“Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the does?
2 Can you count the months of pregnancy; do you know when they give birth?
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Can you number the months that they fulfill, and do you know the time when they give birth,
3 They crouch, split open for their young, send forth their offspring.
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when they crouch, bring forth their offspring, and are delivered of their young?
4 Their young are healthy; they grow up in the open country, leave and never return.
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Their young ones become strong; they grow up in the open; they go out and do not return to them.
5 Who freed the wild donkey, loosed the ropes of the onager
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“Who has let the wild donkey go free? Who has loosed the bonds of the swift donkey,
6 to whom I gave the desert as home, his dwelling place in the salt flats?
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to whom I have given the arid plain for his home and the salt land for his dwelling place?
7 He laughs at the clamor of the town, doesn't hear the driver's shout,
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He scorns the tumult of the city; he hears not the shouts of the driver.
8 searches the hills for food and seeks any green sprout.
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He ranges the mountains as his pasture, and he searches after every green thing.
9 Will the wild ox agree to be your slave, or will it spend the night in your crib?
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“Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will he spend the night at your manger?
10 Can you bind it with a rope to a plowed row; will it plow the valley behind you?
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Can you bind him in the furrow with ropes, or will he harrow the valleys after you?
11 Will you trust it because its strength is great so that you can leave your work to it?
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Will you depend on him because his strength is great, and will you leave to him your labor?
12 Can you rely on it to bring back your grain to gather into your threshing floor?
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Do you have faith in him that he will return your grain and gather it to your threshing floor?
13 The ostrich's wings flap joyously, but her wings and plumage are like a stork.
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“The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the pinions and plumage of love?
14 She leaves her eggs on the earth, lets them warm in the dust,
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For she leaves her eggs to the earth and lets them be warmed on the ground,
15 then forgets that a foot may crush them or a wild animal trample them.
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forgetting that a foot may crush them and that the wild beast may trample them.
16 She treats her young harshly as if they were not hers, without worrying that her labor might be in vain;
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She deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers; though her labor be in vain, yet she has no fear,
17 God didn't endow her with sense, didn't give her some good sense.
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because God has made her forget wisdom and given her no share in understanding.
18 When she flaps her wings high, she laughs at horse and rider.
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When she rouses herself to flee, she laughs at the horse and his rider.
19 Did you give strength to the horse, clothe his neck with a mane,
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“Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with a mane?
20 cause him to leap like a locust, his majestic snorting, a fright?
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Do you make him leap like the locust? His majestic snorting is terrifying.
21 He paws in the valley, prances proudly, charges at battle weapons,
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He paws in the valley and exults in his strength; he goes out to meet the weapons.
22 laughs at fear, unafraid. He doesn't turn away from the sword;
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He laughs at fear and is not dismayed; he does not turn back from the sword.
23 a quiver of arrows flies by him, flashing spear and dagger.
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Upon him rattle the quiver, the flashing spear, and the javelin.
24 Excitedly, trembling, he swallows the ground; can't stand still at a trumpet's blast.
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With fierceness and rage he swallows the ground; he cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet.
25 At a trumpet's sound, he says, "Aha!" smells the battle from afar, hears officers' shouting and the battle cry.
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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.
26 Is it due to your understanding that the hawk flies, spreading its wings to the south?
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“Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars and spreads his wings toward the south?
27 Or at your command does the eagle soar, the vulture build a nest on high?
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Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high?
28 They dwell on an outcropping of rock, their fortress on rock's edge.
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On the rock he dwells and makes his home, on the rocky crag and stronghold.
29 From there they search for food; their eyes notice it from afar,
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From there he spies out the prey; his eyes behold it from far away.
30 and their young lap up blood; where carcasses lie, there they are.
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His young ones suck up blood, and where the slain are, there is he. ”
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible
The Holy Bible, English Standard Version® (ESV®) © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. All rights reserved. ESV Text Edition: 2025