Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁵ Thou didst set the earth on its foundations,
    so that it should never be shaken.
⁶ Thou didst cover it with the deep as with a garment;
    the waters stood above the mountains.
⁷ At thy rebuke they fled;
    at the sound of thy thunder they took to flight.
⁸ The mountains rose, the valleys sank down
    to the place which thou didst appoint for them.
⁹ Thou didst set a bound which they should not pass,
    so that they might not again cover the earth.

²⁴ O Lord, how manifold are thy works!
    In wisdom hast thou made them all;
    the earth is full of thy creatures.

39 “Do you know when the mountain goats bring forth?
    Do you observe the calving of the hinds?
² Can you number the months that they fulfil,
    and do you know the time when they bring forth,
³ when they 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 forth, and do not return to them.

⁵ “Who has let the wild ass go free?
    Who has loosed the bonds of the swift ass,
⁶ to whom I have given the steppe for his home,
    and 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 the wild ox willing to serve you?
    Will he spend the night at your crib?
¹⁰ Can you bind 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,
    and bring your grain to your threshing floor?^[a]

¹³ “The wings of the ostrich wave proudly;
    but are they the pinions and plumage of love?^[b]
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 deals cruelly with her young, as if they were not hers;
    though her labor be in vain, yet she has no fear;
¹⁷ because God has made her forget wisdom,
    and given her no share in understanding.
¹⁸ When she rouses herself to flee,^[c]
    she laughs at the horse and his rider.

¹⁹ “Do you give the horse his might?
    Do you clothe his neck with strength?^[d]
20 Do you make him leap like the locust?
    His majestic snorting is terrible.
²¹ He paws^[e] in the valley, and exults in his strength;
    he 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 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 wisdom 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 nest on high?
²⁸ On the rock he dwells and makes his home
    in the fastness of the rocky crag.
²⁹ Thence he spies out the prey;
    his eyes behold it afar off.
³⁰ His young ones suck up blood;
    and where the slain are, there is he.”