Who hath sent out the wild ass free? or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass?
Parallel translations
- WEB “Who has set the wild donkey free? Or who has loosened the bonds of the swift donkey,
- BSB Who set the wild donkey free? Who released the swift donkey from the harness?
- NKJV “Who set the wild donkey free? Who loosed the bonds of the onager,
- NASB ¶“Who sent the wild donkey out free? And who opened the bonds of the swift donkey,
- NLT “Who gives the wild donkey its freedom? Who untied its ropes?
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
Who set the wild donkey free and loosed its bonds? Its untamed liberty is a gift from God.
Overview
God points to the wild donkey, asking who granted it freedom from human harness. Its very wildness is by divine appointment. The example shows that God delights in creatures that serve no human use, expanding Job's view of God's purposes.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 11
- Job 11:12For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass’s colt.
- Job 6:5Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? or loweth the ox over his fodder?
- Job 24:5Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children.
- Ps 104:11They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench their thirst.
- Isa 32:14Because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks;
- Hos 8:9For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.
- Gen 16:12And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.
- Jer 2:24A wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her.
- Jer 14:6And the wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass.
- Gen 49:14Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens:
- Dan 5:21And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will.
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 39:5 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.