Jeremiah 14:6

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.

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."

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

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.

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

¹ The word of the Lord came to Jeremiah when there was no water. ² Judah is weeping and its doors are dark with sorrow, and people are seated on the earth clothed in black; and the cry of Jerusalem has gone up. ³ Their great men have sent their servants for water: they come to the holes and there is no water to be seen; they come back with nothing in their vessels; they are overcome with shame and fear, covering their heads. ⁴ Those who do work on the land are in fear, for there has been no rain on the land, and the farmers are shamed, covering their heads. ⁵ And the roe, giving birth in the field, lets her young one be uncared for, because there is no grass. ⁶ 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. ⁷ Though our sins give witness against us, do something, O Lord, for the honour of your name: for again and again we have been turned away from you, we have done evil against you. ⁸ O you hope of Israel, its saviour in time of trouble, why are you like one who is strange in the land, and like a traveller putting up his tent for a night? ⁹ Why are you like a man surprised, like a man of war who is not able to give help? but you, O Lord, are with us, and we are named by your name; do not go away from 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 let the Most High God be praised, who has given into your hands those who were against you. Then Abram gave him a tenth of all the goods he had taken.

Genesis 16:7
And an angel of the Lord came to her by a fountain of water in the waste land, by the fountain on the way to Shur.

Genesis 21:21
And while he was in the waste land of Paran, his mother got him a wife from the land of Egypt.

Genesis 36:8
So Esau made his living-place in the hill-country of Seir (Esau is Edom).

Numbers 10:12
And the children of Israel went on their journey out of the waste land of Sinai; and the cloud came to rest in the waste land of Paran.

Numbers 12:16
After that, the people went on from Hazeroth and put up their tents in the waste land of Paran.

Numbers 13:3
And Moses sent them from the waste land of Paran as the Lord gave orders, all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel.

Deuteronomy 2:12
And the Horites in earlier times were living in Seir, but the children of Esau took their place; they sent destruction on them and took their land for themselves, as Israel did to the land of his heritage which the Lord gave them.)

Habakkuk 3:3
God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah. The heavens were covered with his glory, and the earth was 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.