Job 39:5–10

¹²For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass’s colt.

⁵Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children.

⁵Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? or loweth the ox over his fodder?

¹¹They give drink to every beast of the field: the wild asses quench their thirst.

²¹And he was driven from the sons of men; and his heart was made like the beasts, and his dwelling was with the wild asses: they fed him with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; till he knew that the most high God ruled in the kingdom of men, and that he appointeth over it whomsoever he will.

¹²And he will be a wild man; his hand will be against every man, and every man’s hand against him; and he shall dwell in the presence of all his brethren.

¹⁴¶ Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens:

⁹For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.

¹⁴Because the palaces shall be forsaken; the multitude of the city shall be left; the forts and towers shall be for dens for ever, a joy of wild asses, a pasture of flocks;

⁶And the wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass.

²⁴A wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her.

³⁴A fruitful land into barrenness, for the wickedness of them that dwell therein.

²³And that the whole land thereof is brimstone, and salt, and burning, that it is not sown, nor beareth, nor any grass groweth therein, like the overthrow of Sodom, and Gomorrah, Admah, and Zeboim, which the Lord overthrew in his anger, and in his wrath:

⁶For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land and not inhabited.

²⁴A wild ass used to the wilderness, that snuffeth up the wind at her pleasure; in her occasion who can turn her away? all they that seek her will not weary themselves; in her month they shall find her.

⁵Behold, as wild asses in the desert, go they forth to their work; rising betimes for a prey: the wilderness yieldeth food for them and for their children.

¹¹But the miry places thereof and the marishes thereof shall not be healed; they shall be given to salt.

⁹For they are gone up to Assyria, a wild ass alone by himself: Ephraim hath hired lovers.

¹⁸Go therefore now, and work; for there shall no straw be given you, yet shall ye deliver the tale of bricks.

¹⁸There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor.

¹³And the taskmasters hasted them, saying, Fulfil your works, your daily tasks, as when there was straw.

¹⁴And the officers of the children of Israel, which Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and demanded, Wherefore have ye not fulfilled your task in making brick both yesterday and to day, as heretofore?

¹⁵¶ Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried unto Pharaoh, saying, Wherefore dealest thou thus with thy servants?

¹⁶There is no straw given unto thy servants, and they say to us, Make brick: and, behold, thy servants are beaten; but the fault is in thine own people.

⁴For thus hath the Lord spoken unto me, Like as the lion and the young lion roaring on his prey, when a multitude of shepherds is called forth against him, he will not be afraid of their voice, nor abase himself for the noise of them: so shall the Lord of hosts come down to fight for mount Zion, and for the hill thereof.

³¶ Wherefore have we fasted, say they, and thou seest not? wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no knowledge? Behold, in the day of your fast ye find pleasure, and exact all your labours.

¹⁸What time she lifteth up herself on high, she scorneth the horse and his rider.

²⁷These wait all upon thee; that thou mayest give them their meat in due season.

²⁸That thou givest them they gather: thou openest thine hand, they are filled with good.

¹⁵The eyes of all wait upon thee; and thou givest them their meat in due season.

¹⁶Thou openest thine hand, and satisfiest the desire of every living thing.

²⁹¶ And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb bearing seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in the which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for meat.

³⁰And to every beast of the earth, and to every fowl of the air, and to every thing that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, I have given every green herb for meat: and it was so.

¹⁵¶ Behold now behemoth, which I made with thee; he eateth grass as an ox.

²⁰Surely the mountains bring him forth food, where all the beasts of the field play.

²¹He lieth under the shady trees, in the covert of the reed, and fens.

²²The shady trees cover him with their shadow; the willows of the brook compass him about.

²²God brought them out of Egypt; he hath as it were the strength of an unicorn.

¹⁷His glory is like the firstling of his bullock, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns: with them he shall push the people together to the ends of the earth: and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.

¹⁰But my horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn: I shall be anointed with fresh oil.

²¹Save me from the lion’s mouth: for thou hast heard me from the horns of the unicorns.

³The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

¹⁰It is in my desire that I should chastise them; and the people shall be gathered against them, when they shall bind themselves in their two furrows.

¹¹And Ephraim is as an heifer that is taught, and loveth to tread out the corn; but I passed over upon her fair neck: I will make Ephraim to ride; Judah shall plow, and Jacob shall break his clods.

¹⁴And there came a messenger unto Job, and said, The oxen were plowing, and the asses feeding beside them:

⁵Who hath sent out the wild ass free? or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass?

⁷He scorneth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver.

⁵Wilt thou play with him as with a bird? or wilt thou bind him for thy maidens?

¹³O thou inhabitant of Lachish, bind the chariot to the swift beast: she is the beginning of the sin to the daughter of Zion: for the transgressions of Israel were found in thee.

³The plowers plowed upon my back: they made long their furrows.