Bible Strands
Job 6:5
Does a wild donkey bray over fresh grass, or an ox low over its fodder?
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Job delivers this line immediately after describing the arrows of the Almighty piercing him and the terrors of God arrayed against him. He addresses his companions during his acute physical and spiritual distress.
The words — The Hebrew text highlights פֶּ֥רֶא (Pe.re'), meaning a wild donkey, and יִגְעֶה\־ (yig.'e.ho-), meaning does it low. These terms anchor the rhetorical question in the predictable behavior of domesticated and wild livestock.
The thread — The imagery of wild animals and pasture appears in Jeremiah 14:6, which describes wild donkeys panting on barren heights for lack of pasture. The creation of grass for livestock is noted in Psalms 104:14, while the motif of desperate longing echoes Psalms 42:1.
Why it lands — The text states that a wild donkey does not bray over fresh grass, nor does an ox low over its fodder. It demands the reader recognize that Job's outcry is a natural, involuntary response to his condition, not a calculated performance.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? or loweth the ox over his fodder?
Cross-references
- Psalms 42:1 For the choirmaster. A Maskil of the sons of Korah. As the deer pants for streams of water, so my soul longs after You, O God.
- Psalms 104:14 He makes the grass grow for the livestock and provides crops for man to cultivate, bringing forth food from the earth:
- Jeremiah 14:6 Wild donkeys stand on barren heights; they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail for lack of pasture.”
- Joel 1:18 How the cattle groan! The herds wander in confusion because they have no pasture. Even the flocks of sheep are suffering.