Isaiah Chapter 1 verse 3 Holy Bible
The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; `but' Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
read chapter 1 in ASV
Even the ox has knowledge of its owner, and the ass of the place where its master puts its food: but Israel has no knowledge, my people give no thought to me.
read chapter 1 in BBE
The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib; Israel doth not know, my people hath no intelligence.
read chapter 1 in DARBY
The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master's crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.
read chapter 1 in KJV
read chapter 1 in WBT
The ox knows his owner, And the donkey his master's crib; But Israel doesn't know, My people don't consider.
read chapter 1 in WEB
An ox hath known its owner, And an ass the crib of its master, Israel hath not known, My people hath not understood.
read chapter 1 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 3. - The ox... the ass. The ox and the ass are probably selected as the least intelligent of domesticated animals (so Jerome, Rosenmüller, and Gesenius). Yet even they recognize their owner or master. Jeremiah contrasts the brutish stupidity of Israel with the wise instinct of animals that have not been domesticated, as the stork, the turtle-dove, the crane, and the swallow (Jeremiah 8:7). Israel doth not know; i.e. does not acknowledge its Master and Owner, pays him no respect, does not recognize him as either Owner or Master. My people. Compare the formula, so frequent in Exodus, "Let my people go" (Exodus 7:16; 8:1, 20; 9:1, etc.). Israel was God's people by election (Genesis 15:13), by covenant (Exodus 19:5-8; Exodus 24:3-8), by pardoning grace (Exodus 33:12-17). Despite all their backslidings, he had not yet cast them off. They are still "his people" in Isaiah from first to last, standing in contrast with "the nations, "or "the Gentiles, "among whom they are to be "set as a sign" (Isaiah 66:19). Doth net consider. Gesenius translates, "doth not consider thereof;" Cheyne, "is without understanding." Bishop Lowth retains the words of the Authorized Version. The meaning would seem to be, "My people doth not consider me, cloth not reflect on my relation to them as Lord and Master."
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(3) The ox knoweth his owner . . .--As in Exodus 20:17; 1Samuel 12:3, the ox and the ass rather than, as with us, the horse and the dog, are the representative instances of the relation of domesticated animals to man. These know that relation, and act according to it; but Israel did not, or rather would not, know. So Jeremiah dwells, turning to a different region of animal life, on the instinct which leads the stork, the swallow, and the crane to fulfil the law of their being (Jeremiah 8:7), while Israel "knew not"--i.e., did not acknowledge--the law of Jehovah.
