Ayub 24:5

24:5 Like ¹  wild donkeys in the desert

they ²  go out to their labor, ³ 

seeking diligently for food;

the wasteland provides ⁴  food for them

and for their children.

Mazmur 107:34

107:34 and a fruitful land into a barren place, ⁵ 

because of the sin of its inhabitants.

Yeremia 2:24

2:24 You are like a wild female donkey brought up in the wilderness.

In her lust she sniffs the wind to get the scent of a male. ⁶ 

No one can hold her back when she is in heat.

None of the males need wear themselves out chasing after her.

At mating time she is easy to find. ⁷ 

[24:5]  ¹ tc The verse begins with הֵן (hen); but the LXX, Vulgate, and Syriac all have “like.” R. Gordis (Job, 265) takes הֵן (hen) as a pronoun “they” and supplies the comparative. The sense of the verse is clear in either case.

[24:5]  ² tn That is, “the poor.”

[24:5]  ³ tc The MT has “in the working/labor of them,” or “when they labor.” Some commentators simply omit these words. Dhorme retains them and moves them to go with עֲרָבָה (’aravah), which he takes to mean “evening”; this gives a clause, “although they work until the evening.” Then, with many others, he takes לוֹ (lo) to be a negative and finishes the verse with “no food for the children.” Others make fewer changes in the text, and as a result do not come out with such a hopeless picture – there is some food found. The point is that they spend their time foraging for food, and they find just enough to survive, but it is a day-long activity. For Job, this shows how unrighteous the administration of the world actually is.

[24:5]  ⁴ tn The verb is not included in the Hebrew text but is supplied in the translation.

[107:34]  ⁵ tn Heb “a salty land.”

[2:24]  ⁶ tn The words “to get the scent of a male” are implicit and are supplied in the translation for clarification.

[2:24]  ⁷ sn The metaphor is intended to depict Israel’s irrepressible desire to worship other gods.