God’s Word Translation
Job 39:5
5“Who lets the wild donkey go free? Who unties the ropes of the wild donkey?
Job 39:5 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Who hath sent out the wild ass free? or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass?
- New International Version (NIV)“Who let the wild donkey go free? Who untied its ropes?
- English Standard Version (ESV)"Who has let the wild donkey go free? Who has loosed the bonds of the swift donkey,
- New King James Version (NKJV)“Who set the wild donkey free? Who loosed the bonds of the onager,
Context of Job 39:5
3They kneel down to give birth and deliver their young. Then the pain of giving birth is over. 4Their young are healthy and grow up in the wild. They leave and don’t come back. “Who lets the wild donkey go free? Who unties the ropes of the wild donkey? 6I gave it the desert to live in and the salt flats as its dwelling place. 7It laughs at the noise of the city and doesn’t ⌞even⌟ listen to the shouting of its master.
Read all of Job 39Job 39:5 word by word
מִֽי־שִׁלַּ֣ח פֶּ֣רֶא חָפְשִׁ֑י וּמֹסְר֥וֹת עָ֝ר֗וֹד מִ֣י פִתֵּֽחַ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 39:5
- Job 6:5“Does a wild donkey bray when it’s ⌞eating⌟ grass, or does an ox make a sound over its hay?
- Job 11:12But an empty-headed person will gain understanding when a wild donkey is born tame.
- Job 24:5Like wild donkeys in the desert, poor people go out to do their work, looking for food. The plains provide food for their children.
- Genesis 16:12He will be as free and wild as an untamed donkey. He will fight with everyone, and everyone will fight with him. He will have conflicts with all his relatives.”
- Psalms 104:11Every wild animal drinks ⌞from them⌟. Wild donkeys quench their thirst.
- Isaiah 32:14Palaces will be deserted. Noisy cities will be abandoned. Fortresses and watchtowers will become permanent caves. They will be a delight for wild donkeys and pastures for flocks
- Jeremiah 2:24You are like a wild donkey that is used to the desert, sniffing the wind while in heat. All who look for you won’t get tired. They will find you during your monthly period.
- Jeremiah 14:6Wild donkeys stand on the bare hills. They sniff the air like jackals. Their eyesight fails because they have no green plants.
- Daniel 5:21He was chased away from people, and his mind was changed into an animal’s mind. He lived with wild donkeys, ate grass like cattle, and his body became wet with dew from the sky. This happened until he realized that the Most High God has power over human kingdoms. God puts whomever he wishes in charge of them.
- Hosea 8:9“The people of Israel went to Assyria. They were like wild donkeys wandering off alone. The people of Ephraim sold themselves to their lovers.
- Genesis 49:14“Issachar is a strong donkey, lying down between the saddlebags.
Commentaries on Job 39:5
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 5Who hath sent out the wild ass free? - פרא pere, which we translate wild ass, is the same as the of the Greeks, and the onager of the Latins; which must not, says Buffon, be confounded with the zebra, for this is an animal of a different species from the ass. The wild ass is not striped like the zebra, nor so elegantly shaped. There are many of those animals in the deserts of Libya and Numidia: they are of a gray color; and run so swiftly that no horse…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 5Who hath sent out the wild ass free? - For a description of the wild ass, see the notes at Job 11:12. On the meaning of the word rendered “free” (חפשׁי chophshı̂y ), see the notes at Isaiah 58:6. These animals commonly “inhabit the dry and mountainous parts of the deserts of Great Tartary, but not higher than about latitude 48 degrees. They are migratory, and arrive in vast troops to feed, during the summer, on the tracts to the north and east of the sea…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 5-7the wild donkey … scorns the tumult of the city: This is the first example in a series of animals that think little of other animals not their equal (compare 39:18, 22; 41:29). These images show how God scorns the opposition of a person like Job (see Psalm 2:4).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 55. wild ass--Two different Hebrew words are here used for the same animal, "the ass of the woods" and "the wild ass." (See on Job 6:5; Job 11:12; Job 24:5; and Jr 2:24). loosed the bands--given its liberty to. Man can rob animals of freedom, but not, as God, give freedom, combined with subordination to fixed laws.Read the comment
Topics related to Job 39:5
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 39
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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