The Complete Jewish Bible CJB
The Bible in Basic English BBE
1 "Do you know when mountain goats give birth? Have you seen deer in labor?
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Have you knowledge of the rock-goats? or do you see the roes giving birth to their young?
2 Can you tell how many months they carry their young? Do you know when they give birth,
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Is the number of their months fixed by you? or is the time when they give birth ordered by you?
3 when they crouch down and bring forth their young, when they deliver their fawns?
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They are bent down, they give birth to their young, they let loose the fruit of their body.
4 Their young become strong, growing up in the open; they leave and never return.
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Their young ones are strong, living in the open country; they go out and do not come back again.
5 "Who lets the wild donkey roam freely? Who sets the wild donkey loose from its shackles?
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Who has let the ass of the fields go free? or made loose the bands of the loud-voiced beast?
6 I made the 'Aravah its home, the salty desert its place to live.
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To whom I have given the waste land for a heritage, and the salt land as a living-place.
7 It scorns the noise of the city and hears no driver's shouts.
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He makes sport of the noise of the town; the voice of the driver does not come to his ears;
8 It ranges over the hills for its pasture, searching for anything green.
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He goes looking for his grass-lands in the mountains, searching out every green thing.
9 "Would a wild ox be willing to serve you? Would it stay by your stall?
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Will the ox of the mountains be your servant? or is his night's resting-place by your food-store?
10 Could you tie a rope around its neck and make it plow furrows for you?
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Will he be pulling your plough with cords, turning up the valleys after you?
11 Would you trust its great strength enough to let it do your heavy work,
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Will you put your faith in him, because his strength is great? will you give the fruit of your work into his care?
12 or rely on it to bring home your seed and gather the grain from your threshing-floor?
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Will you be looking for him to come back, and get in your seed to the crushing-floor?
13 "An ostrich's wings beat wildly, although its pinions lack plumage.
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Is the wing of the ostrich feeble, or is it because she has no feathers,
14 It leaves its eggs on the ground and lets them be warmed by the sand,
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That she puts her eggs on the earth, warming them in the dust,
15 forgetting that a foot may crush them or a wild animal trample on them.
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Without a thought that they may be crushed by the foot, and broken by the beasts of the field?
16 It treats its chicks heartlessly, as if they were not its own; even if her labor is in vain, it really doesn't care;
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She is cruel to her young ones, as if they were not hers; her work is to no purpose; she has no fear.
17 because God has deprived it of wisdom and given it no share in understanding.
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For God has taken wisdom from her mind, and given her no measure of knowledge.
18 When the time comes, it flaps its wings, scorning both horse and rider.
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When she is shaking her wings on high, she makes sport of the horse and of him who is seated on him.
19 "Did you give the horse its strength? Did you clothe its neck with a mane?
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Do you give strength to the horse? is it by your hand that his neck is clothed with power?
20 Did you make him able to leap like a locust? Its majestic snorting is frightening!
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Is it through you that he is shaking like a locust, in the pride of his loud-sounding breath?
21 It paws with force and exults with vigor, then charges into the battle;
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He is stamping with joy in the valley; he makes sport of fear.
22 mocking at fear, unafraid, it does not shy away from the sword.
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In his strength he goes out against the arms of war, turning not away from the sword.
23 The [rider's] quiver rattles over it, [his] gleaming spear and javelin.
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The bow is sounding against him; he sees the shining point of spear and arrow.
24 Frenzied and eager, it devours the ground, scarcely believing the shofar has sounded.
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Shaking with passion, he is biting the earth; he is not able to keep quiet at the sound of the horn;
25 At the sound of the shofar it whinnies; as from afar it scents the battle, the roar of the chiefs and the shouting.
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When it comes to his ears he says, Aha! He is smelling the fight from far off, and hearing the thunder of the captains, and the war-cries.
26 "Is it your wisdom that sets the hawk soaring, spreading its wings toward the south?
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Is it through your knowledge that the hawk takes his flight, stretching out his wings to the south?
27 Does the eagle fly up when you say so, to build its nest in the heights?
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Or is it by your orders that the eagle goes up, and makes his resting-place on high?
28 It lives and spends its nights on the cliffs; a rocky crag is its fortress.
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On the rock is his house, and on the mountain-top his strong place.
29 From there it spots its prey, its eyes see it far off.
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From there he is watching for food; his eye sees it far off.
30 Its young ones suck up blood; wherever the slain are, there it is."
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His young have blood for their drink, and where the dead bodies are, there is he to be seen.
Complete Jewish Bible Copyright 1998 by David H. Stern. Published by Jewish New Testament Publications, Inc. All rights reserved. Used by permission.
The Bible in Basic English is in the public domain.