New Revised Standard NRS
The Message Bible MSG
1 "Do you know when the mountain goats give birth? Do you observe the calving of the deer?
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"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,
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Do you know how many months she is pregnant? Do you know the season of her delivery,
3 when they crouch to give birth to their offspring, and are delivered of their young?
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when she crouches down and drops her offspring?
4 Their young ones become strong, they grow up in the open; they go forth, and do not return to them.
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Her young ones flourish and are soon on their own; they leave and don't come back.
5 "Who has let the wild ass go free? Who has loosed the bonds of the swift ass,
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"Who do you think set the wild donkey free, opened the corral gates and let him go?
6 to which I have given the steppe for its home, the salt land for its dwelling place?
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I gave him the whole wilderness to roam in, the rolling plains and wide-open places.
7 It scorns the tumult of the city; it does not hear the shouts of the driver.
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He laughs at his city cousins, who are harnessed and harried. He's oblivious to the cries of teamsters.
8 It ranges the mountains as its pasture, and it searches after every green thing.
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He grazes freely through the hills, nibbling anything that's green.
9 "Is the wild ox willing to serve you? Will it spend the night at your crib?
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"Will the wild buffalo condescend to serve you, volunteer to spend the night in your barn?
10 Can you tie it in the furrow with ropes, or will it harrow the valleys after you?
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Can you imagine hitching your plow to a buffalo and getting him to till your fields?
11 Will you depend on it because its strength is great, and will you hand over your labor to it?
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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 it that it will return, and bring your grain to your threshing floor?
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You wouldn't for a minute depend on him, would you, to do what you said when you said it?
13 "The ostrich's wings flap wildly, though its pinions lack plumage.
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"The ostrich flaps her wings futilely - all those beautiful feathers, but useless!
14 For it leaves its eggs to the earth, and lets them be warmed on the ground,
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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 a wild animal may trample them.
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Not caring that they might get stepped on and cracked or trampled by some wild animal.
16 It deals cruelly with its young, as if they were not its own; though its labor should be in vain, yet it has no fear;
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She's negligent with her young, as if they weren't even hers. She cares nothing about anything.
17 because God has made it forget wisdom, and given it no share in understanding.
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She wasn't created very smart, that's for sure, wasn't given her share of good sense.
18 When it spreads its plumes aloft, it laughs at the horse and its rider.
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But when she runs, oh, how she runs, laughing, leaving horse and rider in the dust.
19 "Do you give the horse its might? Do you clothe its neck with mane?
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"Are you the one who gave the horse his prowess and adorned him with a shimmering mane?
20 Do you make it leap like the locust? Its majestic snorting is terrible.
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Did you create him to prance proudly and strike terror with his royal snorts?
21 It paws violently, exults mightily; it goes out to meet the weapons.
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He paws the ground fiercely, eager and spirited, then charges into the fray.
22 It laughs at fear, and is not dismayed; it does not turn back from the sword.
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He laughs at danger, fearless, doesn't shy away from the sword.
23 Upon it rattle the quiver, the flashing spear, and the javelin.
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The banging and clanging of quiver and lance don't faze him.
24 With fierceness and rage it swallows the ground; it cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet.
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He quivers with excitement, and at the trumpet blast races off at a gallop.
25 When the trumpet sounds, it says "Aha!' From a distance it smells the battle, the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.
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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 wisdom that the hawk soars, and spreads its wings toward the south?
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"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 its nest on high?
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Did you command the eagle's flight, and teach her to build her nest in the heights,
28 It lives on the rock and makes its home in the fastness of the rocky crag.
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Perfectly at home on the high cliff-face, invulnerable on pinnacle and crag?
29 From there it spies the prey; its eyes see it from far away.
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From her perch she searches for prey, spies it at a great distance.
30 Its young ones suck up blood; and where the slain are, there it is."
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Her young gorge themselves on carrion; wherever there's a roadkill, you'll see her circling."
New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, 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.
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.