Job 30:20

20 "I call out to you [God], but you don't answer me; I stand up to plead, but you just look at me.

Job 30:20 Meaning and Commentary

Job 30:20

I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me
Which added greatly to his affliction, that though he cried to the Lord for help and deliverance, yet he turned a deaf ear to him; and though he heard him, as undoubtedly he did, he did not answer him immediately; at least not in the way in which he desired and expected he would: crying is expressive of prayer, and supposes distress, and denotes vehemence of spirit:

I stand up;
in prayer, standing being a prayer gesture, as many observe from ( Jeremiah 15:1 ) ; (See Gill on Matthew 6:5); or he persisted in it, he continued praying, was incessant in it, and yet could obtain no answer; or this signifies silence, as some ^F6 interpret it; he cried, and then ceased, waiting for an answer; but whether he prayed, or whether he was silent, it was the same thing:

and thou regardest me [not];
the word "not" is not in this clause, but is repeated from the preceding, as it is by Ben Gersom and others; but some read it without it, and give the sense either thus, thou considerest me whether it is fit to receive my prayer or not, so Sephorno; or to renew my strokes, to add new afflictions to me, as Jarchi and Bar Tzemach; or thou lookest upon me as one pleased with the sight of me in such a miserable condition, so far from helping me; wherefore it follows.

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FOOTNOTES:

F6 Jarchi, Ben Gersom, and Bar Tzemach.

Job 30:20 In-Context

18 My clothes are disfigured by the force [of my disease]; they choke me like the collar of my coat.

19 [God] has thrown me into the mud; I have become like dust and ashes.

20 "I call out to you [God], but you don't answer me; I stand up to plead, but you just look at me.

21 You have turned cruelly against me; with your powerful hand you keep persecuting me.

22 You snatch me up on the wind and make me ride it; you toss me about in the tempest.