⁵ Indeed, like wild donkeys in the desert,
They go out to their work, searching for food.
The wilderness yields food for them and for their children.

¹² For an ^(A)empty-headed man will be wise,
When a wild donkey’s colt is born a man.

⁵ Does the ^(A)wild donkey bray when it has grass,
Or does the ox low over its fodder?

¹¹ They give drink to every beast of the field;
The wild donkeys quench their thirst.

⁹ For they have gone up to Assyria,
Like ^(A)a wild donkey alone by itself;
Ephraim ^(B)has hired lovers.

⁶ And ^(A)the wild donkeys stood in the desolate heights;
They sniffed at the wind like jackals;
Their eyes failed because there was no grass.”

²⁴ A wild donkey used to the wilderness,
That sniffs at the wind in her desire;
In her time of mating, who can turn her away?
All those who seek her will not weary themselves;
In her month they will find her.

^14 (A)Because the palaces will be forsaken,
The bustling city will be deserted.
The forts and towers will become lairs forever,
A joy of wild donkeys, a pasture of flocks—