⁶ 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.”

¹⁵ Then I will return to my place
    until they admit their guilt and turn to me.
For as soon as trouble comes,
    they will earnestly search for me.”

²⁷ To an image carved from a piece of wood they say,
    ‘You are my father.’
To an idol chiseled from a block of stone they say,
    ‘You are my mother.’
They turn their backs on me,
    but in times of trouble they cry out to me,
    ‘Come and save us!’

⁵ “Who gives the wild donkey its freedom?
    Who untied its ropes?
⁶ I have placed it in the wilderness;
    its home is the wasteland.
⁷ It hates the noise of the city
    and has no driver to shout at it.
⁸ The mountains are its pastureland,
    where it searches for every blade of grass.

¹² An empty-headed person won’t become wise
    any more than a wild donkey can bear a human child.^[a]