Job 30

1 But now those who are younger than I make sport of me; those whose fathers I would not have put with the dogs of my flocks.

2 Of what use is the strength of their hands to me? all force is gone from them.

3 They are wasted for need of food, biting the dry earth; their only hope of life is in the waste land.

4 They are pulling off the salt leaves from the brushwood, and making a meal of roots.

5 They are sent out from among their townsmen, men are crying after them as thieves

6 They have to get a resting-place in the hollows of the valleys, in holes of the earth and rocks.

7 They make noises like asses among the brushwood; they get together under the thorns.

8 They are sons of shame, and of men without a name, who have been forced out of the land.

9 And now I have become their song, and I am a word of shame to them.

10 I am disgusting to them; they keep away from me, and put marks of shame on me.

11 For he has made loose the cord of my bow, and put me to shame; he has sent down my flag to the earth before me.

12 The lines of his men of war put themselves in order, and make high their ways of destruction against me:

13 They have made waste my roads, with a view to my destruction; his bowmen come round about me;

14 As through a wide broken place in the wall they come on, I am overturned by the shock of their attack.

15 Fears have come on me; my hope is gone like the wind, and my well-being like a cloud.

16 But now my soul is turned to water in me, days of trouble overtake me:

17 The flesh is gone from my bones, and they give me no rest; there is no end to my pains.

18 With great force he takes a grip of my clothing, pulling me by the neck of my coat.

19 Truly God has made me low, even to the earth, and I have become like dust.

20 You give no answer to my cry, and take no note of my prayer.

21 You have become cruel to me; the strength of your hand is hard on me.

22 Lifting me up, you make me go on the wings of the wind; I am broken up by the storm.

23 For I am certain that you will send me back to death, and to the meeting-place ordered for all living.

24 Has not my hand been stretched out in help to the poor? have I not been a saviour to him in his trouble?

25 Have I not been weeping for the crushed? and was not my soul sad for him who was in need?

26 For I was looking for good, and evil came; I was waiting for light, and it became dark.

27 My feelings are strongly moved, and give me no rest; days of trouble have overtaken me.

28 I go about in dark clothing, uncomforted; I get up in the public place, crying out for help.

29 I have become a brother to the jackals, and go about in the company of ostriches.

30 My skin is black and dropping off me; and my bones are burning with the heat of my disease.

31 And my music has been turned to sorrow, and the sound of my pipe into the noise of weeping.

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.