13 “The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully,
    though they cannot compare
    with the wings and feathers of the stork.(A)
14 She lays her eggs on the ground
    and lets them warm in the sand,
15 unmindful that a foot may crush them,
    that some wild animal may trample them.(B)
16 She treats her young harshly,(C) as if they were not hers;
    she cares not that her labor was in vain,
17 for God did not endow her with wisdom
    or give her a share of good sense.(D)
18 Yet when she spreads her feathers to run,
    she laughs(E) at horse and rider.

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13 Gavest thou the goodly wings unto the peacocks? or wings and feathers unto the ostrich?

14 Which leaveth her eggs in the earth, and warmeth them in dust,

15 And forgetteth that the foot may crush them, or that the wild beast may break them.

16 She is hardened against her young ones, as though they were not her's: her labour is in vain without fear;

17 Because God hath deprived her of wisdom, neither hath he imparted to her understanding.

18 What time she lifteth up herself on high, she scorneth the horse and his rider.

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Even jackals offer their breasts
    to nurse their young,
but my people have become heartless
    like ostriches in the desert.(A)

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Even the sea monsters draw out the breast, they give suck to their young ones: the daughter of my people is become cruel, like the ostriches in the wilderness.

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21 But desert creatures(A) will lie there,
    jackals(B) will fill her houses;
there the owls(C) will dwell,
    and there the wild goats(D) will leap about.

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21 But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there.

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13 Thorns(A) will overrun her citadels,
    nettles and brambles her strongholds.(B)
She will become a haunt for jackals,(C)
    a home for owls.(D)

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13 And thorns shall come up in her palaces, nettles and brambles in the fortresses thereof: and it shall be an habitation of dragons, and a court for owls.

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20 The wild animals(A) honor me,
    the jackals(B) and the owls,
because I provide water(C) in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland,
to give drink to my people, my chosen,

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20 The beast of the field shall honour me, the dragons and the owls: because I give waters in the wilderness, and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen.

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