For vain man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass's colt.
Vain man - hollow or empty х naabuwb (H5014)].
Would be wise - wants to consider himself "wise:" opposed to God's "wisdom" (remark, Job 11:11); refuses to see sin where God sees it (Romans 1:22). The translation of Umbreit and Maurer is-`For thus (namely, by God's judgments, Job 11:10), vain (empty) man becomes wise, and the wild ass' colt (an image for wild untamed man, Genesis 16:12; Hosea 8:9) becomes a man' (a sensible man). The objection to this translation of the latter clause is that "is born" in the Hebrew is emphatical, and cannot mean merely 'becomes:' so that I would either retain the English version or translate as Umbreit, excepting that for 'becomes,' in the last clause, I would translate 'is born into' х yiwaaleed (H3205)] (John 3:3-7).
Wild ass' colt - a proverb for untamed wildness (Job 39:5-8; Jeremiah 2:24; Genesis 16:12; Hebrew, 'a wild-ass man.') Man wishes to appear wisely obedient to his Lord, whereas he is, from his birth, unsubdued in spirit.