Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass? Or does the ox low over his fodder?
Parallel translations
- KJV Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? or loweth the ox over his fodder?
- BSB Does a wild donkey bray over fresh grass, or an ox low over its fodder?
- NKJV Does the wild donkey bray when it has grass, Or does the ox low over its fodder?
- NASB “Does the wild donkey bray over his grass, Or does the ox low over his feed?
- NLT Don’t I have a right to complain? Don’t wild donkeys bray when they find no grass, and oxen bellow when they have no food?
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
A wild donkey does not bray over grass, nor an ox low over fodder. Job argues that his cries are not groundless complaints but signs of real distress.
Overview
With homely images, Job points out that animals do not complain when content; his outcry therefore proves genuine need. He defends his lament as the natural voice of true suffering, not mere petulance. The verse legitimizes honest crying out to God in affliction, the kind of lament filling the Psalms and uttered even by Christ, who cried out in his distress and was heard.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Ps 104:14He causes the grass to grow for the livestock, and plants for man to cultivate, that he may produce food out of the earth:
- Jer 14:6The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights. They pant for air like jackals. Their eyes fail, because there is no vegetation.
- Ps 42:1For the Chief Musician. A contemplation by the sons of Korah. As the deer pants for the water brooks, so my soul pants after you, God.
- Joel 1:18–20How the animals groan! The herds of livestock are perplexed, because they have no pasture. Yes, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.
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 6:5 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.