But a stupid man will get understanding, when a wild ass’s colt is born a man: this verse has been understood in various ways:

(1) As two parallel lines: “And so an empty man gets understanding, and a wild ass’s colt is born a man.” That is, the stupid man becomes clever, and the ass becomes a man. The two parts are separate statements.

(2) As a sarcastic comparison: “The stupid man will have understanding only when an ass gives birth to a man.” In this sense the stupid person will never understand.

(3) A suggestion made by Pope and followed by Good News Translation is that the word translated colt, which is here the offspring of the donkey, really means “male domestic donkey” rather than offspring. The other Hebrew word means a wild donkey as in 6.5. The Hebrew word ʾadam, translated man, should be read ʾadamah “open country” and modifies wild donkey. This permits the translation to read “A stupid man will get understanding just as easily as a wild donkey of the open country will be born tame,” or, as Good News Translation translates, “Stupid men will start being wise when wild donkeys are born tame.” This rendering is more natural as a proverbial saying than Revised Standard Version and is recommended to translators.

This saying is made up of a comparison in which the unlikeliness or impossibility of the first clause is matched by the impossibility of the second. In some languages the comparison will not be evident; for example, where wild and domestic donkeys are unknown. In other languages the comparison may be too obscure to be understood. In the first case it may be possible to substitute other animals; for example, “Stupid men will become wise men when snakes are tame as dogs.” Another solution is to substitute a general word such as “animal”; for example, “… when wild animals give birth to tame animals.” In some cases it may be necessary to make the comparison within each clause more redundant; for example, “Stupid people will stop being stupid and act like wise men when wild donkeys stop giving birth to wild young and give birth to tame young” or “It is as impossible for stupid people to be wise as it is for wild animals to give birth to domestic animals.” Some languages may have local expressions that convey these comparisons more clearly, and in such cases these may be used.

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, Wiliam. A Handbook on Job. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1992. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .