The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
Parallel translations
- WEB The ox knows his owner, and the donkey his master’s crib; but Israel doesn’t know, my people don’t consider.”
- BSB The ox knows its owner, and the donkey its master’s manger, but Israel does not know; My people do not understand.”
- NKJV The ox knows its owner And the donkey its master’s crib; But Israel does not know, My people do not consider.”
- NASB “An ox knows its owner, And a donkey its master’s manger, But Israel does not know, My people do not understand.”
- NLT Even an ox knows its owner, and a donkey recognizes its master’s care— but Israel doesn’t know its master. My people don’t recognize my care for them.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Even dumb animals recognize their owner, yet Israel fails to know and consider its God. The verse indicts His people for a folly worse than that of beasts.
Overview
The comparison shames Judah: the ox and donkey instinctively know who feeds them, but God's people lack such basic discernment. 'Know' here implies covenant relationship and acknowledgment, not mere information. True knowledge of God is finally restored in Christ, in whom the Father is fully revealed.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 15
- Jer 8:7Yea, the stork in the heaven knoweth her appointed times; and the turtle and the crane and the swallow observe the time of their coming; but my people know not the judgment of the LORD.
- Jer 4:22For my people is foolish, they have not known me; they are sottish children, and they have none understanding: they are wise to do evil, but to do good they have no knowledge.
- Isa 44:18They have not known nor understood: for he hath shut their eyes, that they cannot see; and their hearts, that they cannot understand.
- Matt 13:13–15Therefore speak I to them in parables: because they seeing see not; and hearing they hear not, neither do they understand.
- Isa 5:12And the harp, and the viol, the tabret, and pipe, and wine, are in their feasts: but they regard not the work of the LORD, neither consider the operation of his hands.
- Ps 94:8Understand, ye brutish among the people: and ye fools, when will ye be wise?
- Rom 1:28And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not convenient;
- Isa 27:11When the boughs thereof are withered, they shall be broken off: the women come, and set them on fire: for it is a people of no understanding: therefore he that made them will not have mercy on them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour.
- Deut 32:28–29For they are a nation void of counsel, neither is there any understanding in them.
- 2 Pet 3:5For this they willingly are ignorant of, that by the word of God the heavens were of old, and the earth standing out of the water and in the water:
- Prov 6:6Go to the ant, thou sluggard; consider her ways, and be wise:
- Jer 9:3–6And they bend their tongues like their bow for lies: but they are not valiant for the truth upon the earth; for they proceed from evil to evil, and they know not me, saith the LORD.
- Jer 10:14Every man is brutish in his knowledge: every founder is confounded by the graven image: for his molten image is falsehood, and there is no breath in them.
- Jer 10:8But they are altogether brutish and foolish: the stock is a doctrine of vanities.
- Matt 13:19When any one heareth the word of the kingdom, and understandeth it not, then cometh the wicked one, and catcheth away that which was sown in his heart. This is he which received seed by the way side.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Isaiah sees him most clearly: the virgin's son Immanuel, the child on David's throne, the shoot from Jesse, the light to the nations, and above all the Suffering Servant pierced for our transgressions (ch. 53).
How Isaiah 1:3 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.