Good News Translation GNT
Revised Standard Version RSV
1 Do you know when mountain goats are born? Have you watched wild deer give birth?
1
"Do you know when the mountain goats bring forth? Do you observe the calving of the hinds?
2 Do you know how long they carry their young? Do you know the time for their birth?
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Can you number the months that they fulfil, and do you know the time when they bring forth,
3 Do you know when they will crouch down and bring their young into the world?
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when they crouch, bring forth their offspring, and are delivered of their young?
4 In the wilds their young grow strong; they go away and don't come back.
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Their young ones become strong, they grow up in the open; they go forth, and do not return to them.
5 Who gave the wild donkeys their freedom? Who turned them loose and let them roam?
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"Who has let the wild ass go free? Who has loosed the bonds of the swift ass,
6 I gave them the desert to be their home, and let them live on the salt plains.
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to whom I have given the steppe for his home, and the salt land for his dwelling place?
7 They keep far away from the noisy cities, and no one can tame them and make them work.
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He scorns the tumult of the city; he hears not the shouts of the driver.
8 The mountains are the pastures where they feed, where they search for anything green to eat.
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He ranges the mountains as his pasture, and he searches after every green thing.
9 Will a wild ox work for you? Is he willing to spend the night in your stable?
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"Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will he spend the night at your crib?
10 Can you hold one with a rope and make him plow? Or make him pull a harrow in your fields?
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Can you bind him in the furrow with ropes, or will he harrow the valleys after you?
11 Can you rely on his great strength and expect him to do your heavy work?
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Will you depend on him because his strength is great, and will you leave to him your labor?
12 Do you expect him to bring in your harvest and gather the grain from your threshing place?
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Do you have faith in him that he will return, and bring your grain to your threshing floor?
13 How fast the wings of an ostrich beat! But no ostrich can fly like a stork.
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"The wings of the ostrich wave proudly; but are they the pinions and plumage of love?
14 The ostrich leaves her eggs on the ground for the heat in the soil to warm them.
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For she leaves her eggs to the earth, and lets them be warmed on the ground,
15 She is unaware that a foot may crush them or a wild animal break them.
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forgetting that a foot may crush them, and that the wild beast may trample them.
16 She acts as if the eggs were not hers, and is unconcerned that her efforts were wasted.
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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 It was I who made her foolish and did not give her wisdom.
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because God has made her forget wisdom, and given her no share in understanding.
18 But when she begins to run, she can laugh at any horse and rider.
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When she rouses herself to flee, she laughs at the horse and his rider.
19 Was it you, Job, who made horses so strong and gave them their flowing manes?
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"Do you give the horse his might? Do you clothe his neck with strength?
20 Did you make them leap like locusts and frighten people with their snorting?
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Do you make him leap like the locust? His majestic snorting is terrible.
21 They eagerly paw the ground in the valley; they rush into battle with all their strength.
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He paws in the valley, and exults in his strength; he goes out to meet the weapons.
22 They do not know the meaning of fear, and no sword can turn them back.
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He laughs at fear, and is not dismayed; he does not turn back from the sword.
23 The weapons which their riders carry rattle and flash in the sun.
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Upon him rattle the quiver, the flashing spear and the javelin.
24 Trembling with excitement, the horses race ahead; when the trumpet blows, they can't stand still.
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With fierceness and rage he swallows the ground; he cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet.
25 At each blast of the trumpet they snort; they can smell a battle before they get near, and they hear the officers shouting commands.
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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 Does a hawk learn from you how to fly when it spreads its wings toward the south?
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"Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars, and spreads his wings toward the south?
27 Does an eagle wait for your command to build its nest high in the mountains?
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Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up and makes his nest on high?
28 It makes its home on the highest rocks and makes the sharp peaks its fortress.
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On the rock he dwells and makes his home in the fastness of the rocky crag.
29 From there it watches near and far for something to kill and eat.
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Thence he spies out the prey; his eyes behold it afar off.
30 Around dead bodies the eagles gather, and the young eagles drink the blood.
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His young ones suck up blood; and where the slain are, there is he."
Scripture taken from the Good News Translation - Second Edition, Copyright 1992 by American Bible Society. Used by Permission.
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.