Job 30

1 "But now those who are younger than I am make fun of me. I wouldn't put even their parents with my sheep dogs!

2 Their strong hands couldn't give me any help. That's because their strength was gone.

3 They were weak because they were needy and hungry. They wandered through dry and empty deserts at night.

4 Among the bushes they gathered salty plants. They ate the roots of desert trees.

5 They were driven away from society. They were shouted at as if they were robbers.

6 They were forced to live in dry stream beds. They had to stay among rocks and in holes in the ground.

7 Like donkeys they cried out among the bushes. There they crowded together and hid.

8 They were so foolish that no one respected them. They were driven out of the land.

9 "Now their children laugh at me. They make fun of me with their songs.

10 They hate me. They stay away from me. They even dare to spit in my face.

11 God has made my body weak. It's like a tent that has fallen down. So those children do what they want to in front of me.

12 Many people attack me on my right side. They lay traps for my feet. They come at me from every direction.

13 They tear up the road I walk on. They succeed in destroying me. They do it without any help.

14 They attack me like troops smashing through a wall. Among the destroyed buildings they come rolling in.

15 Terrors sweep over me. My honor is driven away as if by the wind. My safety vanishes like a cloud.

16 "Now my life is slipping away. Days of suffering grab hold of me.

17 At night my bones hurt. My gnawing pains never stop.

18 God's great power becomes like clothes to me. He chokes me like the neck of my shirt.

19 He throws me down into the mud. I'm nothing but dust and ashes.

20 "God, I cry out to you. But you don't answer me. I stand up. But all you do is look at me.

21 You do mean things to me. Your mighty hand attacks me.

22 You pick me up and blow me away with the wind. You toss me around in the storm.

23 I know that you will bring me down to death. That's what you have appointed for everyone.

24 "No one would crush people when they cry out for help in their trouble.

25 Haven't I sobbed over those who are in trouble? Haven't I felt sorry for poor people?

26 I hoped good things would happen, but something evil came. I looked for light, but all I saw was darkness.

27 My insides are always churning. Nothing but days of suffering are ahead of me.

28 My skin has become dark, but the sun didn't do it. I stand up in the community and cry out for help.

29 I've become a brother to wild dogs. Owls are my companions.

30 My skin grows black and peels. My body burns with fever.

31 My harp is tuned to sadness. My flute makes a sound like sobbing.

Job 30 Commentary

Chapter 30

Job's honour is turned into contempt. (1-14) Job a burden to himself. (15-31)

Verses 1-14 Job contrasts his present condition with his former honour and authority. What little cause have men to be ambitious or proud of that which may be so easily lost, and what little confidence is to be put in it! We should not be cast down if we are despised, reviled, and hated by wicked men. We should look to Jesus, who endured the contradiction of sinners.

Verses 15-31 Job complains a great deal. Harbouring hard thoughts of God was the sin which did, at this time, most easily beset Job. When inward temptations join with outward calamities, the soul is hurried as in a tempest, and is filled with confusion. But woe be to those who really have God for an enemy! Compared with the awful state of ungodly men, what are all outward, or even inward temporal afflictions? There is something with which Job comforts himself, yet it is but a little. He foresees that death will be the end of all his troubles. God's wrath might bring him to death; but his soul would be safe and happy in the world of spirits. If none pity us, yet our God, who corrects, pities us, even as a father pitieth his own children. And let us look more to the things of eternity: then the believer will cease from mourning, and joyfully praise redeeming love.

Chapter Summary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 30

Job in this chapter sets forth his then unhappy state and condition, in contrast with his former state of prosperity described in the preceding chapter: things had taken a strange turn, and were just the reverse of what they were before; he that was before in such high esteem and credit with all sorts of men, young and old, high and low, rich and poor, now is had in derision by the meanest and basest of men, whose characters are described, Job 30:1-8; and the instances of their contempt of him by words and gestures are given, Job 30:9-14; he who enjoyed so much ease of mind, and health of body, is now filled with distresses of soul, and bodily diseases, Job 30:15-19; and he who enjoyed so much of the presence of God, and communion with him, and of his love and favour, was now disregarded, and, as he thought, cruelly used by him, who not only had destroyed his substance, but was about to bring him to the grave, Job 30:20-24; all which came upon him, though he had a sympathizing heart with the poor, and them that were in trouble, and when he expected better things, Job 30:25-28; and he close the chapter, lamenting his sad and sorrowful circumstances, Job 30:29-31.