Job 30

Mockers

1 But now those younger than I mock me, whose fathers I refused to put beside my sheepdogs.

2 Their strength, what's it to me, their energy having perished?

3 Stiff from want and hunger, those who gnaw dry ground, yesterday's desolate waste,

4 who pluck off the leaves on a bush, the root of the broom— a shrub is their food.

5 People banish them from society, shout at them as if to a thief;

6 so they live in scary ravines, holes in the ground and rocks.

7 Among shrubs, they make sounds like donkeys; they are huddled together under a bush,

8 children of fools and the nameless, whipped out of the land.

Specific mocking behavior

9 And now I'm their song; I'm their cliché!

10 They detest me, keep their distance, don't withhold spit from my face.

11 Because he loosened my bowstring and afflicted me, they throw off restraint in my presence.

12 On the right, upstarts rise and target my feet, build their siege ramps against me,

13 destroy my road, profit from my fall, with no help.

14 They advance as if through a destroyed wall; they roll along beneath the ruin.

15 Terrors crash upon me; they sweep away my honor like wind; my safety disappears like a cloud.

Accusation against God

16 Now my life is poured out on me; days of misery have seized me.

17 At night he bores my bones; my gnawing pain won't rest.

18 With great force he grasps my clothing; it binds me like the neck of my shirt.

19 He hurls me into mud; I'm a cliché, like dust and ashes.

20 I cry to you, and you don't answer; I stand up, but you just look at me.

21 You are cruel to me, attack me with the strength of your hand.

22 You lift me to the wind and make me ride; you melt me in its roar.

23 I know you will return me to death, the house appointed for all the living.

Job’s agony

24 Surely he won't strike someone in ruins if in distress he cries out to him,

25 if I didn't weep for those who have a difficult day or my soul grieve for the needy;

26 for I awaited good, but evil came; I expected light, but gloom arrived.

27 My insides, churning, are never quiet; days of affliction confront me.

28 I walk in the dark, lacking sunshine; I rise in the assembly and cry out.

29 I have become a brother to jackals, a companion to young ostriches.

30 My skin is charred; my bones are scorched by the heat.

31 My lyre is for mourning, my flute, a weeping sound.

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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Heb uncertain
• [b]. Or a wide opening
• [c]. LXX
• [d]. Heb uncertain

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.