Translations
F.O.G.MPrimary
F.O.G MessageDon't be like a horse or mule that lacks understanding—needing bit and bridle to be reined in—or it will never willingly draw close to You.
F.O.GSecondary
The F.O.GDo not be like a horse or a mule—without understanding—which must be checked with bit and bridle, else they will not come near you.
KJV
King James VersionBe ye not as the horse, or as the mule, which have no understanding: whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle, lest they come near unto thee.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleDo not be like the horse or mule, which have no understanding; they must be controlled with bit and bridle to make them come to you.
Footnotes
The warning against becoming like *sus* ('horse') or *pered* ('mule')—useful but unthinking—is cast as the negative counterpart to the wisdom just offered in v. 8: YHWH will lead you with His eye, but you must not require coercion. *Ein havin* ('without understanding') echoes the wisdom tradition's contrast between the *chakham* (wise person) and the fool who must be controlled from outside. The Hebrew syntax of v. 9b carries a productive ambiguity: the bit and bridle either restrain the animal from approaching, or they force it near when it would not otherwise come—suggesting proximity and intimacy with YHWH as the ultimate goal of the instruction. FOG preserves this ambiguity with 'else they will not come near you'; FOG Message foregrounds the intimacy of 'draw close to You' as the desired end being resisted.