But a witless man can no more become wise than the colt of a wild donkey can be born a man!
Parallel translations
- WEB An empty-headed man becomes wise when a man is born as a wild donkey’s colt.
- KJV For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass’s colt.
- NKJV For an empty-headed man will be wise, When a wild donkey’s colt is born a man.
- NASB “An idiot will become intelligent When a wild donkey is born a human.
- NLT An empty-headed person won’t become wise any more than a wild donkey can bear a human child.
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
Zophar says a senseless man can no more gain wisdom than a wild donkey can be born tame. He implies Job is stubbornly foolish.
Overview
Using a proverb, Zophar suggests the empty-headed are as unlikely to become wise as a wild donkey's colt is to be born domesticated, a veiled jab at Job. The verse captures human pride in supposed wisdom. True wisdom, Scripture says, begins with the fear of the LORD and is found fully in Christ, in whom are hidden all wisdom's treasures (Proverbs 9:10; Colossians 2:3).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 19
- Jas 2:20O foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is worthless?
- Job 39:5–8Who set the wild donkey free? Who released the swift donkey from the harness?
- Eccl 3:18I said to myself, “As for the sons of men, God tests them so that they may see for themselves that they are but beasts.”
- Jer 2:24a wild donkey at home in the wilderness, sniffing the wind in the heat of her desire. Who can restrain her passion? All who seek her need not weary themselves; in mating season they will find her.
- Ps 73:22I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before You.
- Jas 3:13–17Who is wise and understanding among you? Let him show it by his good conduct, by deeds done in the humility that comes from wisdom.
- Job 28:28And He said to man, ‘Behold, the fear of the Lord, that is wisdom, and to turn away from evil is understanding.’”
- Eph 2:3All of us also lived among them at one time, fulfilling the cravings of our flesh and indulging its desires and thoughts. Like the rest, we were by nature children of wrath.
- Ps 62:9–10Lowborn men are but a vapor, the exalted but a lie. Weighed on the scale, they go up; together they are but a vapor.
- Job 15:14What is man, that he should be pure, or one born of woman, that he should be righteous?
- Job 6:5Does a wild donkey bray over fresh grass, or an ox low over its fodder?
- 1 Cor 3:18–20Let no one deceive himself. If any of you thinks he is wise in this age, he should become a fool, so that he may become wise.
- Job 5:13He catches the wise in their craftiness, and sweeps away the plans of the cunning.
- Prov 30:2–4Surely I am the most ignorant of men, and I lack the understanding of a man.
- Job 12:2–3“Truly then you are the people with whom wisdom itself will die!
- Rom 1:22Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools,
- Ps 92:6A senseless man does not know, and a fool does not understand,
- Rom 12:16Live in harmony with one another. Do not be proud, but enjoy the company of the lowly. Do not be conceited.
- Ps 51:5Surely I was brought forth in iniquity; I was sinful when my mother conceived me.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 11:12 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.