Jeremiah 14:6

Lexham English Bible

Contextual Overview

¹ That which came as the word of Yahweh to Jeremiah concerning the matter of the severe drought. ² "Judah mourns, and her gates languish, they are in mourning on the ground, and the cry of lament of Jerusalem goes up. ³ And their nobles send their servants for water. They come to the pits, they find no water. They return with their vessels empty. They are ashamed, and they are confounded, and they cover their heads. ⁴ Because of the ground, which is cracked because there was no rain on the ground. The farmers are ashamed, they cover their heads. ⁵ For even the doe in the field gives birth and forsakes her young, because there is no green growth. ⁶ And wild asses stand on the barren heights, they gasp for breath like the jackals. Their eyes fail because there is no vegetation." ⁷ Although our iniquities testify against us, O Yahweh, act for the sake of your name. Yes, our apostasies are many; we have sinned against you. ⁸ You are the hope of Israel, its savior in time of distress. Why should you be like an alien in the land, or like a traveler who spreads out his tent to spend the night? ⁹ Why should you be like a confused man, like a warrior who is not able to help? Yet you are in our midst, O Yahweh, and your name is called upon us. You must 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 be God Most High who delivered your enemies into your hand." And he gave to him a tenth of everything.

Genesis 16:7
And the angel of Yahweh found her at a spring of water in the wilderness, at the spring by the road of Shur.

Genesis 21:21
And 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 dwelled in the hill country of Seir (Esau, that is Edom).

Numbers 10:12
And the Israelites set out for their journey from the desert of Sinai, and the cloud dwelled in the desert of Paran.

Numbers 12:16
And afterward the people set out from Hazeroth, and they encamped in the desert of Paran.

Numbers 13:3
So Moses sent them from the desert of Paran on the command of Yahweh; all of the men were leaders of the Israelites.

Deuteronomy 2:12
The Horites previously lived in Seir, but the descendants of Esau dispossessed them and destroyed them from among themselves, as Israel did with respect to the land of their possession that Yahweh gave to them.)

Habakkuk 3:3
God came from Teman; the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah His splendor covers the heavens, and his praise fills the earth.

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.