Limitless Word
He scorns the tumult of the city and never hears the shouts of a driver.
Job 39:7 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB He scorns the tumult of the city, neither does he hear the shouting of the driver.
  • KJV He scorneth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver.
  • NKJV He scorns the tumult of the city; He does not heed the shouts of the driver.
  • NASB “He laughs at the turmoil of the city, He does not hear the shouting of the taskmaster.
  • NLT It hates the noise of the city and has no driver to shout at it.

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

The wild donkey scorns the noisy city and ignores any driver's shouts. It owes nothing to human control.

Overview

God notes that the wild donkey despises the clamor of town and pays no heed to a driver. Its freedom places it beyond human dominion. This underscores that God sustains creatures wholly outside the human economy, governed by him alone.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 6

  • Exod 5:18Now get to work. You will be given no straw, yet you must deliver the full quota of bricks.”
  • Job 3:18The captives enjoy their ease; they do not hear the voice of the oppressor.
  • Isa 31:4For this is what the LORD has said to me: “Like a lion roaring or a young lion over its prey—and though a band of shepherds is called out against it, it is not terrified by their shouting or subdued by their clamor—so the LORD of Hosts will come down to do battle on Mount Zion and its heights.
  • Job 39:18Yet when she proudly spreads her wings, she laughs at the horse and its rider.
  • Isa 58:3“Why have we fasted, and You have not seen? Why have we humbled ourselves, and You have not noticed?” “Behold, on the day of your fast, you do as you please, and you oppress all your workers.
  • Exod 5:13–16The taskmasters kept pressing them, saying, “Fulfill your quota each day, just as you did when straw was provided.”

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Job videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Job 39:7YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JobMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 39:7 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.