微读圣经

God Speaks of Nature and Its Beings

1“Do you know the time when the wild goats of the rock give birth [to their young]?

Do you observe the calving of the deer?

2Can you count the months that they Lit fulfill.carry offspring,

Or do you know the time when they give birth?

3They kneel down, they bring forth their young,

They cast out their labor pains.

4Their young ones become strong, they grow up in the open field;

They leave and do not return to them.

5“Who sent out the wild donkey free [from dependence on man]?

And who has loosed the bonds of the wild donkey [to survive in the wild],

6To whom I gave the wilderness as his home

And the salt land as his dwelling place?

7He scorns the tumult of the city,

And does not hear the shouting of the taskmaster.

8He explores the mountains as his pasture

And searches after every green thing.

9Will the wild ox be willing to serve you,

Or remain beside your manger at night?

10Can you bind the wild ox with a harness [to the plow] in the furrow?

Or will he plow the valleys for you?

11Will you trust him because his strength is great

And leave your labor to him?

12Will you have faith and depend on him to return your grain

And gather it from your threshing floor?

13“The [flightless] wings of the ostrich wave joyously;

With the pinion (shackles, fetters) and plumage of love,

14For she leaves her eggs on the ground

And warms them in the dust,

15Forgetting that a foot may crush them,

Or that the wild beast may trample them.

16She treats her young cruelly, as if they were not hers;

Though her labor is in vain because she is unconcerned [for the safety of her brood],

17For God has made her forget wisdom,

And has not given her a share of understanding.

18Yet when she lifts herself Or to flee.on high,

[So swift is she that] she laughs at the horse and his rider.

19“Have you given the horse his might?

Have you clothed his neck with quivering and a shaking mane?

20Have you [Job] made him leap like a locust?

The majesty of his snorting [nostrils] is terrible.

21He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength;

He goes out to meet the weapons [of armed men].

22He laughs at fear and is not dismayed;

And [in battle] he does not turn back from the sword.

23The quiver rattles against him,

[As do] the flashing spear and the lance [of his rider].

24With fierceness and rage he races to devour the ground,

And he does not stand still at the sound of the [war] trumpet.

25As often as the trumpet sounds he says, ‘Aha!’

And he smells the battle from far away,

And senses the thunder of the captains and the war cry.

26“Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars,

Stretching his wings toward the south [as winter approaches]?

27Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up

And makes his nest on high [in an inaccessible place]?

28On the cliff he dwells and remains [securely],

Upon the point of the rock and the inaccessible stronghold.

29From there he spies out the prey;

His eyes see it from far away.

30His young ones suck up blood;

And where the slain are, there is he.”