Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁵ He ^(M)set the earth on its foundations,
    so that it should never be moved.
⁶ You ^(N)covered it with the deep as with a garment;
    the waters stood above the mountains.
⁷ At ^(O)your rebuke they fled;
    at ^(P)the sound of your thunder they ^(Q)took to flight.
⁸ The mountains rose, the valleys sank down
    to the place that you ^(R)appointed for them.
⁹ You set ^(S)a boundary that they may not pass,
    so that they ^(T)might not again cover the earth.

²⁴ O Lord, how manifold are your works!
    In ^(A)wisdom have you made them all;
    the earth is full of your creatures.

39 “Do you know when ^(A)the mountain goats give birth?
    Do you observe ^(B)the calving of the does?
² Can you number the months that they fulfill,
    and do you know the time when they give birth,
³ when they ^(C)crouch, bring forth their offspring,
    and are delivered of their young?
⁴ Their young ones become strong; they grow up in the open;
    they go out and ^(D)do not return to them.

⁵ “Who has let the wild donkey go free?
    Who has ^(E)loosed the bonds of the swift donkey,
⁶ to whom I have given ^(F)the arid plain for his home
    and ^(G)the salt land for his dwelling place?
⁷ He scorns the tumult of the city;
    he hears not the shouts of the driver.
⁸ He ranges the mountains as his pasture,
    and he searches after every green thing.

⁹ “Is ^(H)the wild ox willing to serve you?
    Will he spend the night at your ^(I)manger?
¹⁰ Can you bind ^(J)him in the furrow with ropes,
    or will he harrow the valleys after you?
¹¹ Will you depend on him because his strength is great,
    and will you leave to him your labor?
¹² Do you have faith in him that he will return your grain
    and gather it to your threshing floor?

¹³ “The wings of the ostrich wave proudly,
    but are they the pinions and plumage of love?^[a]
14 For she leaves her eggs to the earth
    and lets them be warmed on the ground,
¹⁵ forgetting that a foot may crush them
    and that the wild beast may trample them.
¹⁶ She ^(K)deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers;
    though her ^(L)labor be in vain, yet she has no fear,
¹⁷ because God has made her forget wisdom
    and ^(M)given her no share in understanding.
¹⁸ When she rouses herself to flee,^[b]
    she laughs at the horse and his rider.

¹⁹ “Do you give the horse his might?
    Do you clothe his neck with a mane?
²⁰ Do you make him leap like the locust?
    His majestic ^(N)snorting is terrifying.
²¹ He paws^[c] in the valley and exults in his strength;
    he ^(O)goes out to meet the weapons.
²² He laughs at fear and is not dismayed;
    he does not turn back from the sword.
²³ Upon him rattle the quiver,
    the flashing spear, and the javelin.
²⁴ With fierceness and rage he swallows the ground;
    he cannot stand still at ^(P)the sound of the trumpet.
²⁵ When the trumpet sounds, he says ‘Aha!’
    He smells the battle from afar,
    the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.

²⁶ “Is it by your understanding that the hawk soars
    and spreads his wings toward the south?
²⁷ Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up
    and makes his ^(Q)nest on high?
²⁸ On the rock he dwells and makes his home,
    on ^(R)the rocky crag and stronghold.
²⁹ From there he spies out the prey;
    his eyes behold it from far away.
³⁰ His young ones suck up blood,
    and ^(S)where the slain are, there is he.”