Job 11:12
in Job 11But a witless man can no more become wise than the colt of a wild donkey can be born a man!
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
But vain man is void of understanding, Yea, man is born as a wild ass’s colt.
KJV
For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass’s colt.
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This verse in Job 11
Commentary
11 notes on this verseFor vain man would be wise - The original is difficult and uncertain, ואיש נבוב ילבב veish nabub yillabeb, “And shall the hollow man assume courage,” or “pride himself?” Or, as Mr. Good rather paraphrases it, Will he then accept the hollow-hearted person? The Chaldee gives two renderings: An eloquent man shall become wiser in his heart, and the colt of the wild ass is born as the son of man. Or, The wise man shall ponder it; and the refractory youth, who at last becomes prudent, shall make a great man.
This site's exposition
who can stop Him
on Job 11:10-12
The question "who can stop Him?" states God's freedom to act with no creature able to call Him to account, a doctrine every speaker accepts. Zophar turns at once to accusation, "Surely He knows the deceit of men", assuming that Job's suffering shows God has already judged him.
This site's exposition
the colt of a wild donkey
Barnes traces the Hebrew for witless to a root meaning hollow, like a pipe bored through. Zophar's proverb sets the empty man beside the wild donkey's colt, and it aims at Job. Chrysostom likens human complaint against God to a donkey braying.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
Zophar is right in saying, "Like an ass of the desert." The ass does not stop braying. There is no difference, he says, between our words and those incomprehensible sounds that an ass produces at random and foolishly. We criticize everything, with regard to everything, and we put the blame on everything. Again they exhort Job to take care of his life. But that is useless. That is why Job had said, "If I am righteous, I cannot lift up my head." What is the use of that? Job says, I am righteous, but in his judgment, I am impure.
The Medieval Church2 voices
For the vain man is exalted in pride, and thinketh himself free born like a wild ass's colt.
Just as man turns to evil from vanity, so man does not think he is subject to divine judgment from the same vanity. He therefore continues, "The vain man puffs himself up with pride," so that he does not believe he is subject to a …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
He is a foolish creature, has become like the beasts that perish ( Ps. xlix. 22 ), an idiot, born like an ass, the most stupid animal, an ass's colt, not yet brought to any service. If ever he come to be good for any thing, it is owing to the grace of Christ, who once, in the day of his triumph, served himself by an ass's colt.
Man - That since the fall is void of all true wisdom, pretends to be wise, and able to pass a censure upon all God's ways and works. Colt - Ignorant, and dull, and stupid, as to divine things, and yet heady and untractable.
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
For vain man would be wise,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
vain--hollow. would be--"wants to consider himself wise"; opposed to God's "wisdom" (see on Job 11:11); refuses to see sin, where God sees it (Ro 1:22). wild ass's colt--a proverb for untamed wildness (Job 39:5, 8; Hebrew, "a wild-ass man"). Man wishes to appear wisely obedient to his Lord, whereas he is, from his birth, unsubdued in spirit.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
For vain man - Margin, “empty.” נבוב nâbûb, according to Gesenius, from the root נבב nâbab, to bore through, and then to be hollow; metaphorical, “empty,” “foolish.” The Septuagint, strangely enough, renders this,” but man floats about with words.” The Hebrew here means, manifestly, hollow, empty; then insincere and hypocritical. Zophar refers to a hollow-hearted man, who, though he was in fact like a wild ass’s colt, attempted to appear mild and gentle, and to have a heart. The meaning is, that man by nature has a spirit untamed and unsubdued, and that with this, he assumes the appearance of gentleness and tenderness, and attempts to appear as if he was worthy of love and affection. God, seeing this hollow-heartedness, treats him accordingly. The reference here is to men like Job, and Zophar undoubtedly meant to say that he was hollow-hearted and insincere, and yet that he wished to appear to be a man having a heart, or, having true piety. Would be wise - Various interpretations have been given to this expression. The most simple and obvious seems to be the true one, though I have not seen it noticed by any of the commentators. The word rendered “would be wise” (ילבב yı̂lâbēb) is from לבב lâbab, or לב lêb, meaning “heart,” and the sense here, as it seems to me, is, “vain, hollow, and insincere, man would wish to seem to have a heart;” that is, would desire to appear sincere, or pious. Destitute of that truly, and false and hollow, he would nevertheless wish to appear different, and would put on the aspect of sincerity and religion. This is the most simple exposition, and this accords with the drift of the passage exactly, and expresses a sentiment which is unquestionably true. […]
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
But an empty man a hollow man, without a heart [i.e., understanding], who did not understand His way.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
For He knows deceitful people; when He sees iniquity, He does not consider it [He sees the iniquity] that they commit for days and years, and it seems as though He does not consider it because He is slow to anger.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְאִ֣ישׁ | veish | and a person | H376 → | 1663 times |
| נָ֭בוּב | navuv | hollow | H5014 → | |
| יִלָּבֵ֑ב | yilavev | he will become intelligent | H3823 → | |
| וְעַ֥יִר | veayir | and a male donkey of | H5895 → | |
| פֶּ֝֗רֶא | pere' | a wild donkey | H6501 → | 10 times |
| אָדָ֥ם | ʾadam | a human being | H120 → | 551 times |
| יִוָּלֵֽד׃ | yivaled | it will be born | H3205 → | 496 times |
וְאִ֣ישׁand a person
veishH376 →1663 times
נָ֭בוּבhollow
navuvH5014 →
יִלָּבֵ֑בhe will become intelligent
yilavevH3823 →
וְעַ֥יִרand a male donkey of
veayirH5895 →
פֶּ֝֗רֶאa wild donkey
pere'H6501 →10 times
אָדָ֥םa human being
ʾadamH120 →551 times
יִוָּלֵֽד׃it will be born
yivaledH3205 →496 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Ecclesiastes 3:18I said to myself, “As for the sons of men, God tests them so that they may see for themselves that they are but beasts.”
it leads to
- Psalms 73:22
I was senseless and ignorant; I was a brute beast before You.
- Psalms 49:12
But a man, despite his wealth, cannot endure; he is like the beasts that perish.
- Hebrews 9:27
Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment,
- Genesis 3:17–19
And to Adam He said: “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife and have eaten from the tree of which I commanded you not to eat, cursed is the ground because…
- Psalms 73:22
Through
James 2:20O foolish man, do you want evidence that faith without deeds is worthless?
it leads to
- James 2:17
So too, faith by itself, if it does not result in action, is dead.
- James 2:26
As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead.
- Proverbs 12:11
The one who works his land will have plenty of food, but whoever chases fantasies lacks judgment.
- James 2:17
Through
Jeremiah 2:24a wild donkey at home in the wilderness, sniffing the wind in the heat of her desire. Who can restrain her passion? All who seek her need not weary themselves; in mating season they…
it leads to
- Jeremiah 14:6
Wild donkeys stand on barren heights; they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail for lack of pasture.”
- Jeremiah 14:6
About Job
This page draws on 12 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book X; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, Commentary on Job; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON JOB 11:8B-12; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.