English Standard Version ESV
The Message Bible MSG
1 "Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the does?
1
"Do you know the month when mountain goats give birth? Have you ever watched a doe bear her fawn?
2 Can you number the months that they fulfill, and do you know the time when they give birth,
2
Do you know how many months she is pregnant? Do you know the season of her delivery,
3 when they crouch, bring forth their offspring, and are delivered of their young?
3
when she crouches down and drops her offspring?
4 Their young ones become strong; they grow up in the open; they go out and do not return to them.
4
Her young ones flourish and are soon on their own; they leave and don't come back.
5 "Who has let the wild donkey go free? Who has loosed the bonds of the swift donkey,
5
"Who do you think set the wild donkey free, opened the corral gates and let him go?
6 to whom I have given the arid plain for his home and the salt land for his dwelling place?
6
I gave him the whole wilderness to roam in, the rolling plains and wide-open places.
7 He scorns the tumult of the city; he hears not the shouts of the driver.
7
He laughs at his city cousins, who are harnessed and harried. He's oblivious to the cries of teamsters.
8 He ranges the mountains as his pasture, and he searches after every green thing.
8
He grazes freely through the hills, nibbling anything that's green.
9 "Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will he spend the night at your manger?
9
"Will the wild buffalo condescend to serve you, volunteer to spend the night in your barn?
10 Can you bind him in the furrow with ropes, or will he harrow the valleys after you?
10
Can you imagine hitching your plow to a buffalo and getting him to till your fields?
11 Will you depend on him because his strength is great, and will you leave to him your labor?
11
He's hugely strong, yes, but could you trust him, would you dare turn the job over to him?
12 Do you have faith in him that he will return your grain and gather it to your threshing floor?
12
You wouldn't for a minute depend on him, would you, to do what you said when you said it?
13 "The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are they the pinions and plumage of love?
13
"The ostrich flaps her wings futilely - all those beautiful feathers, but useless!
14 For she leaves her eggs to the earth and lets them be warmed on the ground,
14
She lays her eggs on the hard ground, leaves them there in the dirt, exposed to the weather,
15 forgetting that a foot may crush them and that the wild beast may trample them.
15
Not caring that they might get stepped on and cracked or trampled by some wild animal.
16 She deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers; though her labor be in vain, yet she has no fear,
16
She's negligent with her young, as if they weren't even hers. She cares nothing about anything.
17 because God has made her forget wisdom and given her no share in understanding.
17
She wasn't created very smart, that's for sure, wasn't given her share of good sense.
18 When she rouses herself to flee, she laughs at the horse and his rider.
18
But when she runs, oh, how she runs, laughing, leaving horse and rider in the dust.
19 "Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with a mane?
19
"Are you the one who gave the horse his prowess and adorned him with a shimmering mane?
20 Do you make him leap like the locust? His majestic snorting is terrifying.
20
Did you create him to prance proudly and strike terror with his royal snorts?
21 He paws in the valley and exults in his strength; he goes out to meet the weapons.
21
He paws the ground fiercely, eager and spirited, then charges into the fray.
22 He laughs at fear and is not dismayed; he does not turn back from the sword.
22
He laughs at danger, fearless, doesn't shy away from the sword.
23 Upon him rattle the quiver, the flashing spear, and the javelin.
23
The banging and clanging of quiver and lance don't faze him.
24 With fierceness and rage he swallows the ground; he cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet.
24
He quivers with excitement, and at the trumpet blast races off at a gallop.
25 When the trumpet sounds, he says 'Aha!' He smells the battle from afar, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
25
At the sound of the trumpet he neighs mightily, smelling the excitement of battle from a long way off, catching the rolling thunder of the war cries.
26 "Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars and spreads his wings toward the south?
26
"Was it through your know how that the hawk learned to fly, soaring effortlessly on thermal updrafts?
27 Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high?
27
Did you command the eagle's flight, and teach her to build her nest in the heights,
28 On the rock he dwells and makes his home, on the rocky crag and stronghold.
28
Perfectly at home on the high cliff-face, invulnerable on pinnacle and crag?
29 From there he spies out the prey; his eyes behold it from far away.
29
From her perch she searches for prey, spies it at a great distance.
30 His young ones suck up blood, and where the slain are, there is he."
30
Her young gorge themselves on carrion; wherever there's a roadkill, you'll see her circling."
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.