Common English Bible CEB
New King James Version NKJV
1 Do you know when mountain goats give birth; do you observe the birthing of does?
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"Do you know the time when the wild mountain goats bear young? Or can you mark when the deer gives birth?
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? Or do you know the time when they bear young?
3 They crouch, split open for their young, send forth their offspring.
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They bow down, They bring forth their young, They deliver their offspring.
4 Their young are healthy; they grow up in the open country, leave and never return.
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Their young ones are healthy, They grow strong with grain; They depart and do not return to them.
5 Who freed the wild donkey, loosed the ropes of the onager
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"Who set the wild donkey free? Who loosed the bonds of the onager,
6 to whom I gave the desert as home, his dwelling place in the salt flats?
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Whose home I have made the wilderness, And the barren land his dwelling?
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 does not heed the shouts of the driver.
8 searches the hills for food and seeks any green sprout.
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The range of the mountains is 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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"Will the wild ox be willing to serve you? Will he bed by 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 the wild ox in the furrow with ropes? Or will he plow the valleys behind 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 trust him because his strength is great? Or will you leave your labor to him?
12 Can you rely on it to bring back your grain to gather into your threshing floor?
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Will you trust him to bring home 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 her wings and pinions like the kindly stork's?
14 She leaves her eggs on the earth, lets them warm in the dust,
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For she leaves her eggs on the ground, And warms them in the dust;
15 then forgets that a foot may crush them or a wild animal trample them.
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She forgets that a foot may crush them, Or that a wild beast may break 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 treats her young harshly, as though they were not hers; Her labor is in vain, without concern,
17 God didn't endow her with sense, didn't give her some good sense.
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Because God deprived her of wisdom, And did not endow her with understanding.
18 When she flaps her wings high, she laughs at horse and rider.
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When she lifts herself on high, She scorns the horse and its rider.
19 Did you give strength to the horse, clothe his neck with a mane,
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"Have you given the horse strength? Have you clothed his neck with thunder?
20 cause him to leap like a locust, his majestic snorting, a fright?
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Can you frighten him like a locust? His majestic snorting strikes terror.
21 He paws in the valley, prances proudly, charges at battle weapons,
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He paws in the valley, and rejoices in his strength; He gallops into the clash of arms.
22 laughs at fear, unafraid. He doesn't turn away from the sword;
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He mocks at fear, and is not frightened; Nor does he turn back from the sword.
23 a quiver of arrows flies by him, flashing spear and dagger.
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The quiver rattles against him, The glittering spear and javelin.
24 Excitedly, trembling, he swallows the ground; can't stand still at a trumpet's blast.
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He devours the distance with fierceness and rage; Nor does he come to a halt because the trumpet has sounded.
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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At the blast of the trumpet he says, 'Aha!' He smells the battle from afar, The thunder of captains and shouting.
26 Is it due to your understanding that the hawk flies, spreading its wings to the south?
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"Does the hawk fly by your wisdom, And spread its wings toward the south?
27 Or at your command does the eagle soar, the vulture build a nest on high?
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Does the eagle mount up at your command, And make its nest on high?
28 They dwell on an outcropping of rock, their fortress on rock's edge.
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On the rocks it dwells and resides, On the crag of the rock and the stronghold.
29 From there they search for food; their eyes notice it from afar,
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From there it spies out the prey; Its eyes observe from afar.
30 and their young lap up blood; where carcasses lie, there they are.
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Its young ones suck up blood; And where the slain are, there it is."
Copyright © 2011 Common English Bible
Scripture taken from the New King James Version. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.