Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

⁵ You set the earth on its foundations,
    so that it shall never be shaken.^(E)
6 You cover it with the deep as with a garment;
    the waters stood above the mountains.^(F)
7 At your rebuke they flee;
    at the sound of your thunder they take to flight.
⁸ They rose up to the mountains, ran down to the valleys,
    to the place that you appointed for them.^(G)
9 You set a boundary that they may not pass,
    so that they might not again cover the earth.^(H)

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

39 “Do you know when the mountain goats give birth?
    Do you observe the calving of the deer?^(A)
2 Can you number the months that they fulfill,
    and do you know the time when they give birth,
³ when they crouch to give birth to their offspring
    and are delivered of their young?^(B)
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,^(C)
6 to which I have given the steppe for its home,
    the salt land for its dwelling place?^(D)
7 It scorns the tumult of the city;
    it does not hear the shouts of the driver.
⁸ It ranges the mountains as its pasture,
    and it searches after every green thing.

⁹ “Is the wild ox willing to serve you?
    Will it spend the night at your crib?^(E)
10 Can you tie it in the furrow with ropes,
    or will it harrow the valleys after you?
¹¹ Will you depend on it because its strength is great,
    and will you hand over your labor to it?
¹² Do you have faith in it that it will return
    and bring your grain to your threshing floor?^[a]

¹³ “The ostrich’s wings flap wildly,
    though its pinions lack plumage.^[b]
14 For it leaves its eggs to the earth
    and lets them be warmed on the ground,
¹⁵ forgetting that a foot may crush them
    and that a wild animal may trample them.
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;^(F)
17 because God has made it forget wisdom
    and given it no share in understanding.^(G)
18 When it spreads its plumes aloft,^[c]
    it laughs at the horse and its rider.

¹⁹ “Do you give the horse its might?
    Do you clothe its neck with mane?^(H)
20 Do you make it leap like the locust?
    Its majestic snorting is terrible.^(I)
21 It paws^[d] violently, exults mightily;
    it goes out to meet the weapons.^(J)
22 It laughs at fear and is not dismayed;
    it does not turn back from the sword.
²³ Upon it rattle the quiver,
    the flashing spear, and the javelin.
²⁴ With fierceness and rage it swallows the ground;
    it cannot stand still at the sound of the trumpet.^(K)
25 When the trumpet sounds, it says ‘Aha!’
    From a distance it smells the battle,
    the thunder of the captains, and the shouting.^(L)

²⁶ “Is it by your wisdom that the hawk soars
    and spreads its wings toward the south?
²⁷ Is it at your command that the eagle mounts up
    and makes its nest on high?^(M)
28 It lives on the rock and makes its home
    in the fastness of the rocky crag.
²⁹ From there it spies the prey;
    its eyes see it from far away.^(N)
30 Its young ones suck up blood,
    and where the slain are, there it is.”^(O)