TRV
Translation
King James Version
Who hath sent out the wild ass free? or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass?
Complete Jewish Bible
"Who lets the wild donkey roam freely? Who sets the wild donkey loose from its shackles?
Berean Standard Bible
Who set the wild donkey free? Who released the swift donkey from the harness?
American Standard Version
Who hath sent out the wild ass free? Or who hath loosed the bonds of the swift ass,
World English Bible Messianic
“Who has set the wild donkey free? Or who has loosened the bonds of the swift donkey,
Geneva Bible (1599)
Canst thou nomber the moneths that they fulfill? or knowest thou the time when they bring foorth?
Young's Literal Translation
Who hath sent forth the wild ass free? Yea, the bands of the wild ass who opened?
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In the KJVVerse 13,840 of 31,102
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Commentary on Job 39 verses 1–12
1 ¶ Knowest thou the time when the wild goats of the rock bring forth? or canst thou mark when the hinds do calve?
2 Canst thou number the months that they fulfil? or knowest thou the time when they bring forth?
3 They bow themselves, they bring forth their young ones, they cast out their sorrows.
4 Their young ones are in good liking, they grow up with corn; they go forth, and return not unto them.
5 Who hath sent out the wild ass free? or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass?
6 Whose house I have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings.
7 He scorneth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver.
8 The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searcheth after every green thing.
9 Will the unicorn be willing to serve thee, or abide by thy crib?
10 Canst thou bind the unicorn with his band in the furrow? or will he harrow the valleys after thee?
11 Wilt thou trust him, because his strength is great? or wilt thou leave thy labour to him?
12 Wilt thou believe him, that he will bring home thy seed, and gather it into thy barn?
God here shows Job what little acquaintance he had with the untamed creatures that run wild in the deserts and live at large, but are the care of the divine Providence. As,
I. The wild goats and the hinds. That which is taken notice of concerning them is the bringing forth and bringing up of their young ones. For, as every individual is fed, so every species of animals is preserved, by the care of the divine Providence, and, for aught we know, none extinct to this day. Observe here, 1. Concerning the production of their young, (1.) Man is wholly ignorant of the time when they bring forth, Job 39:1, Job 39:2. Shall we pretend to tell what is in the womb of Providence, or what a day will bring forth, who know not the time of the pregnancy of a hind or a wild goat? (2.) Though they bring forth their young with a great deal of difficulty and sorrow, and have no assistance from man, yet, by the good providence of God, their young ones are safely produced, and their sorrows cast out and forgotten, Job 39:3. Some think it is intimated (Psa 29:9) that God by thunder helps the hinds in calving. Let it be observed, for the comfort of women in labour, that God helps even the hinds to bring forth their young; and shall he not much more succour them, and save them in child-bearing, who are his children in covenant with him? 2. Concerning the growth of their young, (Job 39:4): They are in good liking; though they are brought forth in sorrow, after their dams have suckled them awhile they shift for themselves in the corn-fields, and are no more burdensome to them, which is an example to children, when they have grown up, not to be always hanging upon their parents and craving from them, but to put forth themselves to get their own livelihood and to requite their parents.
II. The wild ass, a creature we frequently read of in Scripture, some say untameable. Man is said to be born as the wild ass's colt, so hard to be governed. Two things Providence has allotted to the wild ass: - 1. An unbounded liberty (Job 39:5): Who but God has sent out the wild ass free? He has given a disposition to it, and therefore a dispensation for it. The tame ass is bound to labour; the wild ass has no bonds on him. Note, Freedom from service, and liberty to range at pleasure, are but the privileges of a wild ass. It is a pity that any of the children of men should covet such a liberty, or value themselves on it. It is better to labour and be good for something than ramble and be good for nothing. But if, among men, Providence sets some at liberty and suffers them to live at ease, while others are doomed to servitude, we must not marvel at the matter: it is so among the brute-creatures. 2. An unenclosed lodging (Job 39:6): Whose house I have made the wilderness, where he has room enough to traverse his ways, and snuff up the wind at his pleasure, as the wild ass is said to do (Jer 2:24), as if he had to live upon the air, for it is the barren land that is his dwelling. Observe, The tame ass, that labours, and is serviceable to man, has his master's crib to go to both for shelter and food, and lives in a fruitful land: but the wild ass, that will have his liberty, must have it in a barren land. He that will not labour, let him not eat. He that will shall eat the labour of his hands, and have also to give to him that needs. Jacob, the shepherd, has good red pottage to spare, when Esau, a sportsman, is ready to perish for hunger. A further description of the liberty and livelihood of the wild ass we have, Job 39:7, Job 39:8. (1.) He has no owner, nor will he be in subjection: He scorns the multitude of the city. If they attempt to take him, and in order to that surround him with a multitude, he will soon get clear of them, and the crying of the driver is nothing to him. He laughs at those that live in the tumult and bustle of cities (so bishop Patrick), thinking himself happier in the wilderness; and opinion is the rate of things. (2.) Having no owner, he has no feeder, nor is any provision made for him, but he must shift for himself: The range of the mountains is his pasture, and a bare pasture it is; there he searches after here and there a green thing, as he can find it and pick it up; whereas the labouring asses have green things in plenty, without their searching for them. From the untameableness of this and other creatures we may infer how unfit we are to give law to Providence, who cannot give law even to a wild ass's colt.
III. The unicorn - rhem, a strong creature (Num 23:22), a stately proud creature, Psa 112:10. He is able to serve, but not willing; and God here challenges Job to force him to it. Job expected every thing should be just as he would have it. "Since thou dost pretend" (says God) "to bring every thing beneath thy sway, begin with the unicorn, and try thy skill upon him. Now that thy oxen and asses are all gone, try whether he will be willing to serve thee in their stead (Job 39:9) and whether he will be content with the provision thou usedst to make for them: Will he abide by thy crib? No;" 1. "Thou canst not tame him, nor bind him with his band, nor set him to draw the harrow," Job 39:10. There are creatures that are willing to serve man, that seem to take a pleasure in serving him, and to have a love for their masters; but there are such as will never be brought to serve him, which is the effect of sin. Man has revolted from his subjection to his Maker, and is therefore justly punished with the revolt of the inferior creatures from their subjection to him; and yet, as an instance of God's good-will to man, there are some that are still serviceable to him. Though the wild bull (which some think is meant here by the unicorn) will not serve him, nor submit to his hand in the furrows, yet there are tame bullocks that will, and other animals that are not ferae naturae - of a wild nature, in whom man may have a property, for whom he provides, and to whose service he is entitled. Lord, what is man, that thou art thus mindful of him? 2. "Thou darest not trust him; though his strength is great, yet thou wilt not leave thy labour to him, as thou dost with thy asses or oxen, which a little child may lead or drive, leaving to them all the pains. Thou wilt never depend upon the wild bull, as likely to come to thy harvest-work, much less to go through it, to bring home thy seed and gather it into thy barn," Job 39:11, Job 39:12. And, because he will not serve about the corn, he is not so well fed as the tame ox, whose mouth was not to be muzzled in treading out the corn; but therefore he will not draw the plough, because he that made him never designed him for it. A disposition to labour is as much the gift of God as an ability for it; and it is a great mercy if, where God gives strength for service, he gives a heart; it is what we should pray for, and reason ourselves into, which the brutes cannot do; for, as among beasts, so among men, those may justly be reckoned wild and abandoned to the deserts who have no mind either to take pains or to do good.
Matthew Henry (1662–1714) — Commentary on the Whole Bible. This section covers verses 1–12. Public domain.
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John ChrysostomAD 407
COMMENTARY ON JOB 39:5A
Then he adds, “Who has let the wild ass go free?” “Who has disposed things in this manner?” he says. “Who has established the laws of nature?” These are, he says, permanent laws that never change. This animal is strong and untamed. Even if you multiply your efforts, you will never have it under your control. “Who will destroy the decisions that God has taken?” You see that according to Providence and because God wants that, everything yields and obeys us. But if he does not want us to obtain obedience, we can use every means, and it will be of no use. We will gain nothing. Therefore, why is our effort useless, even though we want to get results? That is because when we see a domesticated animal we can admire the docility in which it has been established. But God has left things out of our reach in order that, before those things that are subjected to you, you may not admire your own wisdom and may not attribute to your capability the obedience of that animal.
Gregory the DialogistAD 604
66. Nor let any consider it unbecoming that the Incarnate Lord can be typified by such an animal; whilst it is admitted by all that He is spoken of, in Holy Scripture, as, in a certain sense, both a worm and a beetle. As it is written; But I am a worm, and no man. [Ps. 22, 6] And as it is said by the Prophet in the Septuagint, A beetle cried out from the wood. [Hab. 2, 11. LXX.] Since then He is typified by the mention of such vile and abject things, what is said offensively of Him, of Whom it is admitted that nothing is said appropriately? For He is called a lamb, but it is for His innocence. He is called a lion, but it is for His might. He is also sometimes compared to a serpent, but it is for His death, or for His wisdom. And He can therefore be spoken of figuratively by all these, because none of all these can be essentially believed of Him. For were He to be really one of these essentially, He could no longer be termed another. For were He properly called a lamb, He could no longer be called a lion. If He were properly called a lion, He would not be signified by a serpent. But we say all these things of Him in figure, with the greater latitude, the further removed they are from His essence. The wild ass can therefore designate the Incarnate Lord. For the wild ass is an animal of the fields. And because the Incarnate Lord profited the Gentiles more than the Jews, when, assuming a living body [‘corpus animale’], He went, as it were, not into the house, but rather into the field. Of which field of the Gentiles it is said by the Psalmist; The beauty of the field is with Me. [Ps. 50, 11] The Incarnate Lord therefore, Who in the form of God is equal to the Father, is in the form of a servant less than the Father, in which He is also less than Himself. Let it be said therefore by the Father of the Son in the form of a servant; Who hath sent out the wild ass free, and who hath loosed his bands? For every one who sins is the servant of sin. And because the Incarnate Lord was made partaker of our nature, not of our sin, He is said to have been sent forth free, because He is not held under the dominion of sin. Of Whom it is written elsewhere; Free among the dead. [Ps. 88, 5] He is said to have been sent forth free, because taking our nature, He is not at all held by the yoke of iniquity. And though the stain of our guilt touched Him not, yet the suffering of our mortality bound Him. Whence also after He is said to have been sent forth free, it is rightly added of Him; And who hath loosed His bands?
67. For His bands were then in truth loosened, when the infirmities of His Passion were changed into the glory of His Resurrection. For the Lord had those infirmities of our mortal state, which we endure as the desert of our iniquity, as a kind of bands with which He wished of His own accord to be bound, even to death, and which He loosed marvellously by His Resurrection. For to be hungry, to thirst, to be weary, to be bound, to be scourged, and to be crucified, was the bond of our mortality. But when on the completion of His death the veil of the temple was rent, the rocks were cleft, the tombs were opened, the barriers of hell were laid bare, what else is shown by so many arguments of such mighty power, but that those bands of our infirmity were loosened, that He, Who had come to take on Him the form of a servant, might return in freedom to heaven even with His members? Of which bonds of His the Apostle Peter witnesses, saying, Whom God hath raised up, having loosed the pains of hell, because it was not possible for Him to be holden of it. [Acts 2, 24] And because after His Death and Resurrection He deigned to call the Gentiles to the grace of faith, after His bands are said to have been loosened.
Gregory the DialogistAD 604
50. Understand, Except Myself. For the wild ass, who dwells in solitude, signifies, not inaptly, the life of those who dwell far removed from the crowds of people. And it is fitly also called free, because great is the drudgery of secular pursuits, with which the mind is grievously wearied, though it toil therein of its own accord. And to be freed from the condition of this slavery is no longer to desire any thing in this world. For prosperity while sought for, and adversities also while dreaded, oppress, as it were, with a kind of servile yoke. But if any one has but once freed the neck of his mind from the dominion of temporal desires, he enjoys already a kind of liberty even in this life, whilst he is affected by no longing for happiness, and is constrained by no dread of adversity. The Lord beheld this heavy yoke of slavery set hard on the necks of worldly men, when He was saying, Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you. Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your souls: for My yoke is sweet, and My burden light. [Matt. 11, 28-30] For it is, as we have said, a rough yoke, and weight of heavy bondage, to be subject to temporal concerns, to court the things of earth, to retain things which are gliding away, to wish to stand in things which stand not, to seek after passing objects, but yet to be unwilling to pass away with what are passing. For while all things, contrary to our wish, fly away, those things which had previously distressed the mind from its longing to acquire them, oppress it afterwards with the fear of loss. He therefore is set free, who, having trampled down earthly desires, is exonerated, in security of mind, from seeking after temporal things. And who hath loosed his bands? Thou understandest, Except Myself.
51. But the bands of each one are loosed, when by Divine help the inward bonds of carnal desires are burst asunder. For when a holy intention calls to conversion, but the infirmity of the flesh still calls back from this intention, the soul is fettered and impeded, as it were, by certain bonds. For we often see many desiring indeed a life of holy conversation, but fearing at one time the onset of present mishaps, and at another future adversities, so as to be unable to attain it. And while they look forward, as if with caution, to evils which are uncertain [read ‘incerta.’], they are incautiously retained in the bands of their own sins. For they place many things before their eyes, on the occurrence of which in their course of life, they are afraid that they can not stand firm. Of whom Solomon well says; The way of the slothful is as an hedge of thorns. [Prov. 15, 19] For when they seek the way of God, the suspicions of their fears stand in their way, and wound them, as the thorns of hedges which oppose them. But since this obstacle is not wont to oppose the Elect, he there proceeds to add, The way of the righteous is without an obstacle. [ibid.] For whatever adversity may have fallen in their way of life, the righteous stumble not against it. Because with the bound of eternal hope, and of eternal contemplation, they leap over the obstacles of temporal adversity. The Lord therefore looses the bands of the wild ass, when He tears off from the mind of each of His Elect the bonds of weak thoughts, and kindly rends asunder every thing which was binding his enchanted mind.
Source: Quotations drawn from early Church Fathers and historical Christian theologians (AD 100–1500). Some quotes address the surrounding passage context rather than this verse alone.
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SUMMARY
Job 39:5 is a pivotal verse within God's majestic discourse from the whirlwind, serving to profoundly challenge Job's limited understanding and control over creation. Through a series of rhetorical questions concerning the untamed nature of the wild ass, the verse powerfully underscores God's unique and unchallenged authority as the sole liberator and sustainer of even the most independent creatures. It functions to humble Job by contrasting humanity's inability to domesticate such a creature with God's absolute sovereignty, thereby revealing the Creator's boundless power, infinite wisdom, and deliberate design over all aspects of the natural world.
CONTEXT
EXPOSITION AND ANALYSIS
Key Word Analysis
Verse Breakdown
Literary Devices
Job 39:5 masterfully employs several literary devices to convey its profound theological message. The most prominent is Rhetorical Question, where God poses questions not for an expected answer, but to make a forceful point and to humble Job by exposing the limits of his knowledge and power. These questions compel Job to acknowledge God's unparalleled wisdom and control over creation. The verse also utilizes Parallelism, specifically synonymous parallelism, with the two clauses "Who hath sent out the wild ass free?" and "or who hath loosed the bands of the wild ass?" expressing similar ideas in different words. This repetition enhances the emphasis on the wild ass's inherent freedom and God's sole proprietorship over it. Furthermore, there's a subtle form of Anthropomorphism in the language, as God is depicted as actively "sending out" and "loosing the bands" of the wild ass, attributing human-like actions of intentional release and management to the divine, thereby making God's sovereignty more relatable and impactful. The wild ass itself functions as a powerful Symbol, representing all aspects of creation that are beyond human control, serving as a tangible example of God's unassailable dominion and the inherent liberty God bestows upon His creation.
THEOLOGICAL AND THEMATIC CONNECTIONS
Job 39:5 serves as a powerful testament to God's absolute and comprehensive sovereignty over all creation, particularly those elements that defy human control or understanding. It underscores that the freedom and untamed nature of creatures like the wild ass are not accidental but are divinely ordained and sustained, revealing a Creator who delights in the diversity and independence He has woven into the fabric of the natural world. This profound truth about God's dominion over the wild and uncontrollable aspects of creation invites humanity to a posture of humility and awe, recognizing that true wisdom lies in acknowledging our limitations before the infinite wisdom and power of the Creator. The verse challenges any anthropocentric view of the world, redirecting focus to God as the ultimate source of all life and liberty, even for creatures that exist beyond human utility or domestication, thereby cultivating a deeper reverence for His unsearchable ways.
REFLECTION AND APPLICATION
Job 39:5 offers a profound invitation to re-evaluate our understanding of control, wisdom, and divine providence in our own lives. In a world where we often strive for mastery over our circumstances, this verse reminds us that there are vast realms of existence, both natural and spiritual, that remain utterly beyond our grasp. Just as God alone "sent out" the wild ass free, so too does He orchestrate events and sustain life in ways that transcend our comprehension. This realization should cultivate a deep sense of humility, prompting us to release our need for absolute control and instead, surrender to the One who truly holds all things together. It encourages us to find peace not in our ability to tame every "wild ass" in our lives—be it chaotic circumstances, unpredictable people, or unfulfilled desires—but in trusting the sovereign wisdom of God, who manages even the most untamed aspects of His creation with perfect care and purpose. This perspective fosters a spirit of worship and awe, recognizing that our God is infinitely greater, wiser, and more capable than we can ever imagine, inviting us to rest in His unfailing providence and to find freedom in His boundless design.
Questions for Reflection
FAQ
Why does God focus on the wild ass in His discourse to Job?
Answer: God focuses on the wild ass (along with other wild animals like the mountain goat, wild ox, and ostrich) in His discourse to Job primarily to illustrate His absolute sovereignty, unsearchable wisdom, and comprehensive control over all creation, especially over those aspects that are beyond human control or domestication. Unlike domesticated animals that serve human purposes, the wild ass lives independently, free from human "bands" or harnesses, thriving in the wilderness. By pointing to this creature, God underscores that its freedom and existence are not due to human inability to capture it, but because God Himself "sent it out free" and "loosed its bands." This serves to humble Job, reminding him that if he cannot even control a wild ass, how much less can he comprehend or challenge the ways of the Almighty Creator, who sustains all life, both wild and tame. It emphasizes that God's power and wisdom are not limited to what is useful or understandable to humanity, but extend to every untamed corner of His creation.
CHRIST-CENTERED FULFILLMENT
Job 39:5, with its profound declaration of God's sovereign power over the untamed wild ass, finds its ultimate fulfillment and deepest meaning in the person and work of Jesus Christ. As the eternal Word through whom "all things were made" (John 1:3) and "without Him nothing was made that has been made," Jesus is the very agent of creation, the one who "sent out" the wild ass free and "loosed its bands." He is not merely a distant Creator but the active Sustainer, the one "in whom all things hold together" (Colossians 1:17). The untamable freedom of the wild ass, established by God, foreshadows Christ's own divine freedom from the constraints of human expectation and earthly power, as He moved with unparalleled authority, unburdened by the "bands" of sin and death. Furthermore, just as God grants inherent freedom to the wild ass, Christ offers true and ultimate liberation to humanity. He came to "proclaim liberty to the captives and recovery of sight to the blind, to set at liberty those who are oppressed" (Luke 4:18), freeing us from the "bands" of sin, the curse of the law, and the dominion of death, which are far more binding than any physical restraint. His victory on the cross and resurrection demonstrate His absolute sovereignty over all creation, including the wild and unpredictable forces of evil, offering a freedom that surpasses mere physical liberty, leading to eternal life and true spiritual freedom in Him (John 8:36).