Saturday in Season after Pentecost

1Verse 1. “Do you know when mountain goats give birth? Have you watched the doe bear her fawn? 2Verse 2. Can you count the months they are pregnant? Do you know the time they give birth? 3Verse 3. They crouch down and bring forth their young; they deliver their newborn. 4Verse 4. Their young ones thrive and grow up in the open field; they leave and do not return. 5Verse 5. Who set the wild donkey free? Who released the swift donkey from the harness? 6Verse 6. I made the wilderness his home and the salt flats his dwelling. 7Verse 7. He scorns the tumult of the city and never hears the shouts of a driver. 8Verse 8. He roams the mountains for pasture, searching for any green thing. 9Verse 9. Will the wild ox consent to serve you? Will he stay by your manger at night? 10Verse 10. Can you hold him to the furrow with a harness? Will he plow the valleys behind you? 11Verse 11. Can you rely on his great strength? Will you leave your hard work to him? 12Verse 12. Can you trust him to bring in your grain and gather it to your threshing floor? 13Verse 13. The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, but cannot match the pinions and feathers of the stork. 14Verse 14. For she leaves her eggs on the ground and lets them warm in the sand. 15Verse 15. She forgets that a foot may crush them, or a wild animal may trample them. 16Verse 16. She treats her young harshly, as if not her own, with no concern that her labor was in vain. 17Verse 17. For God has deprived her of wisdom; He has not endowed her with understanding. 18Verse 18. Yet when she proudly spreads her wings, she laughs at the horse and its rider. 19Verse 19. Do you give strength to the horse or adorn his neck with a mane? 20Verse 20. Do you make him leap like a locust, striking terror with his proud snorting? 21Verse 21. He paws in the valley and rejoices in his strength; he charges into battle. 22Verse 22. He laughs at fear, frightened of nothing; he does not turn back from the sword. 23Verse 23. A quiver rattles at his side, along with a flashing spear and lance. 24Verse 24. Trembling with excitement, he devours the distance; he cannot stand still when the ram’s horn sounds. 25Verse 25. At the blast of the horn, he snorts with fervor. He catches the scent of battle from afar, the shouts of captains and the cry of war. 26Verse 26. Does the hawk take flight by your understanding and spread his wings toward the south? 27Verse 27. Does the eagle soar at your command and make his nest on high? 28Verse 28. He dwells on a cliff and lodges there; his stronghold is on a rocky crag. 29Verse 29. From there he spies out food; his eyes see it from afar. 30Verse 30. His young ones feast on blood; and where the slain are, there he is.”

10Verse 10. You were secure in your wickedness; you said, ‘No one sees me.’ Your wisdom and knowledge led you astray; you told yourself, ‘I am, and there is none besides me.’ 11Verse 11. But disaster will come upon you; you will not know how to charm it away. A calamity will befall you that you will be unable to ward off. Devastation will happen to you suddenly and unexpectedly. 12Verse 12. So take your stand with your spells and with your many sorceries, with which you have wearied yourself from your youth. Perhaps you will succeed; perhaps you will inspire terror! 13Verse 13. You are wearied by your many counselors; let them come forward now and save you— your astrologers who observe the stars, who monthly predict your fate. 14Verse 14. Surely they are like stubble; the fire will burn them up. They cannot deliver themselves from the power of the flame. There will be no coals to warm them or fire to sit beside. 15Verse 15. This is what they are to you — those with whom you have labored and traded from youth— each one strays in his own direction; not one of them can save you.[’’]