Job 30:15-31

15 Terrors tumble over me, chasing my honor away like the wind; my [hope of] salvation passes like a cloud.

16 "So now my life is ebbing away, days of grief have seized me.

17 At night pain pierces me to the bone, so that I never rest.

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.

23 For I know that you will bring me to death, the house assigned to everyone living.

24 "Surely [God] wouldn't strike at a ruin, if in one's calamity one cried out to him for help.

25 Didn't I weep for those who were in trouble? Didn't I grieve for the needy?

26 Yet when I hoped for good, what came was bad; when I expected light, what came was darkness.

27 My insides are in turmoil; they can't find rest; days of misery confront me.

28 I go about in sunless gloom, I rise in the assembly and cry for help.

29 I have become a brother to jackals and a companion of ostriches.

30 My skin is black and falling off me, and my bones are burning with heat.

31 So my lyre is tuned for mourning, my pipe to the voice of those who weep.

Job 30:15-31 Meaning and Commentary

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.