Job 30:29

29 I have become a brother of jackals, ^[a] a companion of ostriches. ^[b]

Job 30:29 Meaning and Commentary

Job 30:29

I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
] Or ostriches, as the Targum, Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions; either he was obliged to dwell with such persons as were comparable to these creatures for their devouring words, hissing noise, and venomous speeches, or for want of compassion, and for their cruelty, as David is said to be among lions, ( Psalms 57:4 ) ; or also, he was like unto them, being solitary and alone, all his friends and acquaintance standing at a distance from him, as these creatures love lonesome and desolate places; or because of the wailing and howling noise they make, to which his mournful notes bore some resemblance, (See Gill on Micah 1:8); or because, when these creatures cry and howl, and make a noise, no mercy is shown to them, none pities or regards them; and so it was with him; though he stood and cried in ever so public a manner, none had any compassion on him.

Job 30:29 In-Context

27 I am churning within and cannot rest; days of affliction confront me.

28 I go about blackened, but not by the sun. I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.

29 I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of ostriches.

30 My skin grows black and peels, and my bones burn with fever.

31 My harp is tuned to mourning and my flute to the sound of weeping.

Footnotes

• [a] Or serpents or dragons
• [b] Literally of daughters of an ostrich or of daughters of an owl