Lectionary Calendar
Sunday, August 17th, 2025
the Week of Proper 15 / Ordinary 20
Attention!
Tired of seeing ads while studying? Now you can enjoy an "Ads Free" version of the site for as little as 10¢ a day and support a great cause!
Click here to learn more!

Read the Bible

Amplified Bible

Jeremiah 14:6

"And the wild donkeys stand on the barren heights; They pant for air like jackals, Their eyesight fails Because there is no grass.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Ass (Donkey);   Drought;   Famine;   Impenitence;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Ass, the Wild;   Dragon, the;   Famine;   Grass;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Animals;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Ass;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Dragon;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Air;   Ass;   Economic Life;   Famine and Drought;   Jeremiah;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Crocodile;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Dragon;   Fail;   Height;   Herb;   Jackal;   Whale;   Kitto Biblical Cyclopedia - Ass;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Crocodile;   Eye;   Joel, Book of;   Wild Ass;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
Wild donkeys stand on the barren heightspanting for air like jackals.Their eyes failbecause there are no green plants.
Hebrew Names Version
The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail, because there is no herbage.
King James Version
And the wild asses did stand in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes did fail, because there was no grass.
English Standard Version
The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights; they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail because there is no vegetation.
New American Standard Bible
"The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights; They pant for air like jackals, Their eyes fail Because there is no vegetation.
New Century Version
Wild donkeys stand on the bare hills and sniff the wind like wild dogs. But their eyes go blind, because there is no food."
World English Bible
The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail, because there is no herbage.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And the wilde asses did stande in the hygh places, & drew in their winde like dragons their eyes did faile, because there was no grasse.
Legacy Standard Bible
The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights;They pant for air like jackals;Their eyes failFor there is no vegetation.
Berean Standard Bible
Wild donkeys stand on barren heights; they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail for lack of pasture."
Contemporary English Version
Wild donkeys go blind from starvation. So they stand on barren hilltops and sniff the air, hoping to smell green grass.
Complete Jewish Bible
The wild donkeys standing on the bare heights gasp for air like jackals; their eyes grow dim from trying to spot any vegetation."
Darby Translation
And the wild asses stand on the heights, they snuff up the wind like jackals; their eyes fail, because there is no herbage.
Easy-to-Read Version
Wild donkeys stand on the bare hills. They sniff the wind like jackals. But their eyes cannot find any food, because there are no plants to eat.
George Lamsa Translation
And the wild asses stood in the paths, they snuffed up the wind like jackals; their eyes did fail because there was no grass.
Good News Translation
The wild donkeys stand on the hilltops and pant for breath like jackals; their eyesight fails them because they have no food.
Lexham English Bible
And wild asses stand on the barren heights, they gasp for breath like the jackals. Their eyes fail because there is no vegetation."
Literal Translation
And the wild asses stood in the high places; they snuffed up the wind like jackals; their eyes failed because there was no grass.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
The wilde Asses shall stonde in the Mosse, and drawe in their wynde like the Dragos, their eyes shal fayle for wat of grasse.
American Standard Version
And the wild asses stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail, because there is no herbage.
Bible in Basic English
And the asses of the field on the open hilltops are opening their mouths wide like jackals to get air; their eyes are hollow because there is no grass.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And the wild asses stand on the high hills, they gasp for air like jackals; their eyes fail, because there is no herbage.
King James Version (1611)
And the wilde asses did stand in the hie places, they snuffed vp the winde like dragons: their eyes did faile because there was no grasse.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
The wylde asses did stande in the hye places, and drewe in their winde lyke the dragons, their eyes did fayle for want of grasse.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
The wild asses stood by the forests, and snuffed up the wind; their eyes failed, because there was no grass.
English Revised Version
And the wild asses stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail, because there is no herbage.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
and wield assis stoden in rochis, and drowen wynde as dragouns; her iyen failiden, for noon eerbe was.
Update Bible Version
And the wild donkeys stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail, because there is no herbage.
Webster's Bible Translation
And the wild asses stood in the high places, they snuffed up the wind like dragons; their eyes failed, because [there was] no grass.
New English Translation
Wild donkeys stand on the hilltops and pant for breath like jackals. Their eyes are strained looking for food, because there is none to be found."
New King James Version
And the wild donkeys stood in the desolate heights; They sniffed at the wind like jackals; Their eyes failed because there was no grass."
New Living Translation
The wild donkeys stand on the bare hills panting like thirsty jackals. They strain their eyes looking for grass, but there is none to be found."
New Life Bible
The wild donkeys stand on the open hill-tops. They breathe hard for air like wild dogs. Their eyes become weak because there is nothing to eat.
New Revised Standard
The wild asses stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail because there is no herbage.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Yea, wild asses stand still on the bare heights, They pant for air like jackals, - Dimmed are their eyes Because there is no grass.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And the wild asses stood upon the rocks, they snuffed up the wind like dragons, their eyes failed, because there was no grass.
Revised Standard Version
The wild asses stand on the bare heights, they pant for air like jackals; their eyes fail because there is no herbage.
Young's Literal Translation
And wild asses have stood on high places, They have swallowed up wind like dragons, Consumed have been their eyes, for there is no herb.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"The wild donkeys stand on the bare heights; They pant for air like jackals, Their eyes fail For there is no vegetation.

Contextual Overview

1The word of the LORD that came to Jeremiah concerning the drought: 2"Judah mourns And her gates languish; Her people sit on the ground in mourning clothes And the cry of Jerusalem has gone up. 3"Their nobles have sent their servants for water; They have come to the cisterns and found no water. They have returned with empty vessels; They have been shamed and humiliated, And they cover their heads. 4"The ground is cracked Because there has been no rain on the land; The farmers are distressed, And they have covered their heads [in shame]. 5"The doe in the field has given birth only to abandon her young Because there is no grass. 6"And the wild donkeys stand on the barren heights; They pant for air like jackals, Their eyesight fails Because there is no grass.7"O LORD, though our many sins testify against us" [prays Jeremiah], "Act now [for us and] for Your name's sake [so that the faithless may witness Your faithfulness]! For our backslidings are countless; We have sinned against You. 8"O Hope of Israel, Her Savior in time of distress and trouble, Why should You be like a sojourner (temporary resident) in the land Or like a traveler who turns aside and spreads his tent to linger [only] for a night? 9"Why should You be [hesitant and inactive] like a man astounded and perplexed, Like a mighty man unable to save? Yet You, O LORD, are among us, And we are called by Your name; Do not leave us!"

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the wild: Jeremiah 2:24, Job 39:5, Job 39:6

they: They sucked in the air, for want of water, to cool their internal heat.

their: 1 Samuel 14:29, Lamentations 4:17, Lamentations 5:17, Joel 1:18

Reciprocal: 1 Kings 18:5 - grass Job 6:5 - loweth Psalms 104:14 - causeth Jeremiah 9:10 - because Lamentations 1:6 - harts Romans 8:20 - the creature

Cross-References

Genesis 14:20
And blessed, praised, and glorified be God Most High, Who has given your enemies into your hand." And Abram gave him a tenth of all [the treasure he had taken in battle].
Genesis 16:7
But the Angel of the LORD found her by a spring of water in the wilderness, on the road to [Egypt by way of] Shur.
Genesis 21:21
He lived in the wilderness of Paran; and his mother took a wife for him from the land of Egypt.
Genesis 36:8
So Esau lived in the hill country of Seir; Esau is Edom.
Numbers 10:12
and the Israelites set out on their journey from the Wilderness of Sinai, and the cloud [of the LORD'S guiding presence] settled down in the Wilderness of Paran.
Numbers 12:16
Afterward the people moved on from Hazeroth and camped in the Wilderness of Paran.
Numbers 13:3
So Moses sent spies from the Wilderness of Paran at the command of the LORD, all of them men who were heads of the Israelites.
Deuteronomy 2:12
The Horites also used to live in Seir, but the sons of Esau dispossessed them. They destroyed them from before them and settled in their place, just as Israel did in the land which the LORD gave them as their possession.)
Habakkuk 3:3
God [approaching from Sinai] comes from Teman (Edom), And the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah (pause, and calmly think of that). His splendor and majesty covers the heavens And the earth is full of His praise.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the wild asses did stand in the high places,.... To see where any grass was to be had, or where the wind blows more freely and cooly, to draw it in; as follows. The Targum renders it, "by the brooks"; and so Jarchi interprets it brooks of water; whither they came as usual to drink, and found them now dried up; and where they stood distressed and languishing, not knowing where to go for any:

they snuffed up the wind like dragons: which, being of a hot nature, open their mouths, and draw in the wind and air to cool them. Aelianus b reports of the dragons in Phrygia, that they open their mouths, and not only draw in the air, but even birds flying. The word used for dragons signifies large fishes, great whales; and some understand it of crocodiles, who will lift up their heads above water to refresh themselves with the air:

their eyes did fail; in looking about for grass; or for want of food, being quite starved and famished:

because there was no grass; for their food and nourishment. With great propriety is the herb or grass mentioned, this being the proper food of asses, as Aristotle c observes; and with which agrees the Scripture; which represents them as content when they have it; and as ranging about the mountains for it when they have none; being creatures very impatient of hunger and thirst; see Job 6:5 wherefore the Greek writers surname this animal dry and thirsty; and hence the lying story of Tacitus d, concerning Moses and the children of Israel; who, he says, being ready to perish for want of water, Moses observed a flock of wild asses going from their pasture to a rock covered with trees, and followed them, taking it for herbage, and found large fountains of water. And very pertinently are their eyes said to fail for want of food, and the sight of them grow dim, which is more or less the case of all creatures in such circumstances; but the rather is this observed of the wild ass, because, as an Arabic writer e suggests, it is naturally very sharp and clear sighted.

b De Animal. l. 2. c. 21. c Hist. Animal. l. 8. c. 8. d Histor. l. 5. c. 3. e Damir apud Bochart. Hierozoic. par. 1. l. 3. c. 16. col. 878.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Like dragons - “Like jackals” Jeremiah 9:11.

No grass - The keen sight of the wild donkey is well known, but they look around in vain for herb.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Jeremiah 14:6. Snuffed up the wind like dragons — תנים tannim here probably means the hippopotamus, who, after feeding under the water, is obliged to come to the surface in order to take in fresh draughts of air; or it may mean the wild asses.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile