Limitless Word
He scorns the tumult of the city, neither does he hear the shouting of the driver.
Job 39:7 · World English Bible
Parallel translations
  • KJV He scorneth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver.
  • BSB He scorns the tumult of the city and never hears the shouts of a 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 5:18Go therefore now, and work, for no straw shall be given to you, yet you shall deliver the same number of bricks!”
  • Job 3:18There the prisoners are at ease together. They don’t hear the voice of the taskmaster.
  • Isa 31:4For Yahweh says to me, “As the lion and the young lion growling over his prey, if a multitude of shepherds is called together against him, will not be dismayed at their voice, nor abase himself for their noise, so Yahweh of Armies will come down to fight on Mount Zion and on its heights.
  • Job 39:18When she lifts up herself on high, she scorns the horse and his rider.
  • Isa 58:3‘Why have we fasted,’ say they, ‘and you don’t see? Why have we afflicted our soul, and you don’t notice?’ “Behold, in the day of your fast you find pleasure, and oppress all your laborers.
  • Exod 5:13–16The taskmasters were urgent saying, “Fulfill your work quota daily, as when there was straw!”

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.