Job 39:5

39:5 Who let the wild donkey go free?

Who released the bonds of the donkey,

Job 39:7

39:7 It scorns the tumult in the town;

it does not hear the shouts of a driver. ¹ 

Job 1:14

1:14 and a messenger came to Job, saying, “The oxen were plowing ²  and the donkeys were grazing beside them,

Job 41:5

41:5 Can you play ³  with it, like a bird,

or tie it on a leash ⁴  for your girls?

Psalms 129:3

129:3 The plowers plowed my back;

they made their furrows long.

Hosea 10:10-11

10:10 When I please, ⁵  I will discipline them; ⁶ 

I will gather nations together to attack them, ⁷ 

to bind them in chains ⁸  for their two sins. ⁹ 

Fertility Imagery: Plowing, Sowing, and Reaping

10:11 Ephraim was a well-trained heifer who loved to thresh grain;

I myself put a fine yoke ¹⁰ on her neck.

I will harness Ephraim.

Let Judah plow! ¹¹ 

Let Jacob break up ¹²  the unplowed ground for himself!

Micah 1:13

1:13 Residents of Lachish, ¹³  hitch the horses to the chariots!

You ¹⁴  influenced Daughter Zion ¹⁵  to sin, ¹⁶ 

for Israel’s rebellious deeds can be traced back ¹⁷  to you!

[39:7]  ¹ sn The animal is happier in open countryside than in a busy town, and on its own rather than being driven by a herdsman.

[1:14]  ² tn The use of the verb “to be” with the participle gives emphasis to the continuing of the action in the past (GKC 360 §116.r).

[41:5]  ³ tn The Hebrew verb is שָׂחַק (sakhaq, “to sport; to trifle; to play,” Ps 104:26).

[41:5]  ⁴ tn The idea may include putting Leviathan on a leash. D. W. Thomas suggested on the basis of an Arabic cognate that it could be rendered “tie him with a string like a young sparrow” (VT 14 [1964]: 114ff.).

[10:10]  ⁵ tn Heb “in my desire”; ASV, NASB “When it is my desire”; NCV “When I am ready.”

[10:10]  ⁶ tc The MT reads וְאֶסֳּרֵם (vÿ’essorem, vav conjunction + Niphal imperfect 1st person common singular + 3rd person masculine plural suffix from אָסַר, ’asar, “to bind”). The LXX reads παιδεῦσαι αὐτούς (paideusai autous, “to discipline them”) which reflects a Vorlage of אִיסַּרֶם (’issarem, Qal imperfect 1st person common singular + 3rd person masculine plural suffix from יָסַר, yasar, “to discipline”; BDB 416 s.v. יָסַר 3). The textual variant was caused by orthographic confusion between ו (vav) and י (yod) with metathesis of the two letters.

[10:10]  ⁷ tn Heb “Nations will be gathered together against them.”

[10:10]  ⁸ tn The verb אָסַר (’asar, “to bind”) often refers to conquered peoples being bound as prisoners (BDB 63 s.v. אָסַר). Here it is used figuratively to describe the Israelites being taken into exile. Cf. NIV “to put them in bonds.”

[10:10]  ⁹ tc The Kethib is לִשְׁתֵּי עֵינֹתָם (lishte ’enotam, “for their two eyes”), while the Qere reads לִשְׁתֵּי עוֹנֹתָם (lishte ’onotam, “for their two sins”). The phrase “two sins” could refer to (1) the sinful episode at Gibeah and the subsequent war between the tribe of Benjamin and the other tribes (Judges 19-21), or (2) the entire Gibeah incident (Judges 19-21) and Israel’s subsequent failure to repent up to the time of Hosea: “the time of Gibeah” (first sin) and “there you have remained” (second sin).

[10:11]  ¹⁰ tc The MT is unintelligible: עַל־טוּב (’al-tuv, “upon a fine [thing]”?). Cf. KJV “I passed over upon her fair neck”; NRSV “I spared her fair neck.” The BHS editors suggest the revocalization עֹל־טוּב (’ol-tuv, “a fine yoke”), followed by many modern English versions (e.g., NAB, NASB, NIV, NCV, TEV, NLT). The noun עֹל (’ol, “yoke”) also appears in 11:4 in a metaphor which compares Israel to a young heifer as well.

[10:11]  ¹¹ tn Or “Judah will plow” (so NASB); NIV, NRSV, CEV “Judah must plow.”

[10:11]  ¹² tn Or “Jacob will break up.”

[1:13]  ¹³ sn The place name Lachish sounds like the Hebrew word for “team [of horses].”

[1:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “she”; this has been translated as second person (“you”) in keeping with the direct address to the residents of Lachish in the previous line.

[1:13]  ¹⁵ sn The epithet Daughter Zion pictures the city of Jerusalem as a young lady.

[1:13]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “She was the beginning of sin for Daughter Zion.”

[1:13]  ¹⁷ tn Heb “for in you was found the transgressions of Israel.”