[1]Say if thou knowest the time of the bringing forth of the wild goats of the rock, and if thou hast marked the calving of the hinds: [2]and if thou has hast numbered the full months of their being with young, and if thou hast relieved their pangs: [3]and hast reared their young without fear; and wilt thou loosen their pangs? [4]Their young will break forth; they will be multiplied with offspring: their young will go forth, and will not return to them. [5]And who is he that sent forth the wild ass free? and who loosed his bands? [6]whereas I made his habitation the wilderness, and the salt land his coverts. [7]He laughs to scorn the multitude of the city, and hears not the chiding of the tax-gatherer. [8]He will survey the mountains as his pasture, and he seeks after every green thing. [9]And will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or to lie down at thy manger? [10]And wilt thou bind his yoke with thongs, or will he plough furrows for thee in the plain? [11]And dost thou trust him, because his strength is great? and wilt thou commit thy works to him? [12]And wilt thou believe that he will return to thee thy seed, and bring it in to thy threshing-floor? [13]The peacock has a beautiful wing: if the stork and the ostrich conceive, it is worthy of notice, [14]for the ostrich will leave her eggs in the ground, and warm them on the dust, [15]and has forgotten that the foot will scatter them, and the wild beasts of the field trample them. [16]She has hardened herself against her young ones, as though she bereaved not herself: she labours in vain without fear. [17]For God has withholden wisdom from her, and not given her a portion in understanding. [18]In her season she will lift herself on high; she will scorn the horse and his rider. [19]Hast thou invested the horse with strength, and clothed his neck with terror? [20]And hast thou clad him in perfect armour, and made his breast glorious with courage? [21]He paws exulting in the plain, and goes forth in strength into the plain. [22]He laughs to scorn a king as he meets him, and will by no means turn back from the sword. [23]The bow and sword resound against him; and his rage will swallow up the ground: [24]and he will not believe until the trumpet sounds. [25]And when the trumpet sounds, he says, Aha! and afar off he smells the war with prancing and neighing. [26]And does the hawk remain steady by thy wisdom, having spread out her wings unmoved, looking toward the region of the south? [27]And does the eagle rise at thy command, and the vulture remain sitting over his nest, [28]on a crag of a rock, and in a secret place? [29]Thence he seeks food, his eyes observe from far. [30]And his young ones roll themselves in blood, and wherever the carcasses may be, immediately they are found. [31]And the Lord God answered Job, and said, [32]Will any one pervert judgment with the Mighty One? and he that reproves God, let him return it for answer. [33]And Job answered and said to the Lord, [34]Why do I yet plead? being rebuked even while reproving the Lord: hearing such things, whereas I am nothing: and what shall I answer to these arguments? I will lay my hand upon my mouth. [35]I have spoken once; but I will not do so a second time.
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Author: Sir Lancelot Charles Lee Brenton (1851)
Source: ecmarsh.com
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