Job 6:5

5 Does a wild donkey bray when it has grass, or an ox bellow when it has fodder?

Job 6:5 in Other Translations

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

5 Does the wild donkey bray when he has grass, or the ox low over his fodder?

5 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?

5 Donkeys bray and cows moo when they run out of pasture - so don't expect me to keep quiet in this.

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

5 "Does a wild donkey bray when it's [eating] grass, or does an ox make a sound over its hay?

5 Does a wild donkey bray over fresh grass or an ox low over its fodder?

5 Does a wild donkey cry out when it has enough grass? Does an ox call out when it has plenty of food?

Job 6:5 Meaning and Commentary

Job 6:5

Doth the wild ass bray when he hath grass? or loweth the ox
over his fodder?
] No, they neither of them do, when the one is in a good pasture, and the other has a sufficiency of provender; but when they are in want of food, the one will bray, and the other will low, which are tones peculiar to those creatures, and express their mournful complaints; wherefore Job suggests, that should he make no moan and complaint in his sorrowful circumstances, he should be more stupid and senseless than those brute creatures: and he may have some respect to the different circumstances of himself and his friends; he himself, when he was in prosperity, made no complaints, as the wild ass brays not, and the ox lows not, when they have both food enough; but now, being in distress, he could not but utter his sorrow and trouble, as those creatures when in lack of food; and this may serve as an answer to his different conduct now and formerly, objected to him, ( Job 4:3-5 ) ; and so his friends; they lived in great tranquillity and prosperity, as Aben Ezra observes, and roared and grieved not, which doubtless they would, were they in the same circumstances he was; though it became them, as things were, to have uttered words of condolence to their friend in distress, instead of sharp reproofs and hard censures.

Job 6:5 In-Context

3 It would surely outweigh the sand of the seas— no wonder my words have been impetuous.

4 The arrows of the Almighty are in me, my spirit drinks in their poison; God’s terrors are marshaled against me.

5 Does a wild donkey bray when it has grass, or an ox bellow when it has fodder?

6 Is tasteless food eaten without salt, or is there flavor in the sap of the mallow ?

7 I refuse to touch it; such food makes me ill.

Cross References

• 1. S Genesis 16:12
• 2. Job 30:7
• 3. Job 24:6; Isaiah 30:24