The New Kings James Version translates Job 39:13-19 this way:
- The wings of the ostrich wave proudly, but are her wings and pinions [like the] kindly stork’s?
- For she leaves her eggs on the ground, and warms them in the dust;
- She forgets that a foot may crush them, or that a wild beast may break them.
- She treats her young harshly, as though [they were] not hers; her labor is in vain, without concern,
- Because God deprived her of wisdom, and did not endow her with understanding.
- When she lifts herself on high, she scorns the horse and its rider.
One day, if we are not very careful, like so many other species, there may not be any around. How many times does one expect to see a lion or an elephant and instead one comes across an ostrich, or a small flock or a large aggregation walking or running at full speed across the plains of Africa? Or once, as we were showing our son the Indian Ocean for the first time, we saw an ostrich prancing on the beach amongst algae right there on the South African coastline. They are unlike any other animal on Earth. They are the world’s biggest birds. But unlike the more common ostriches, the Maasai ostrich, the Somali and the Southern African Ostrich, which people usually see in East and Southern Africa, there is another subspecies that is even bigger, the red-necked ostrich in Senegal and it is the biggest bird on the planet. It needs protection and conservation funds. Humans long ago destroyed and caused the extinction of the moa in New Zealand, who were 12 feet tall and about 500 lbs.