Job 30

1 “But now they ¹laugh at me, men who are ²younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.

2 What could I gain from the strength of their hands, ³men whose ⁴vigor is gone?

3 Through want and hard hunger they ⁵gnaw ⁶the dry ground by night in ⁷waste and desolation;

4 they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes, and the roots of the broom tree for their food. ^[a]

5 ⁸They are driven out from human company; they shout after them as after a thief.

6 In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell, in holes of the earth and of ⁹the rocks.

7 Among the bushes they ¹⁰bray; under ¹¹the nettles they huddle together.

8 A senseless, a nameless brood, they have been whipped out of the land.

9 “And now I have become their ¹²song; I am ¹³a byword to them.

10 They ¹⁴abhor me; they keep aloof from me; they do not hesitate to ¹⁵spit at the sight of me.

11 Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me, they have cast off restraint^[b] in my presence.

12 On my ¹⁶right hand the rabble rise; they push away my feet; they ¹⁷cast up against me their ways of destruction.

13 They break up my path; they promote my ¹⁸calamity; they need no one to help them.

14 As through a wide ¹⁹breach they come; amid the crash they roll on.

15 ²⁰Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is pursued as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed away like ²¹a cloud.

16 “And now my soul is ²²poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold of me.

17 ²³The night ²⁴racks my bones, and the pain that ²⁵gnaws me takes no rest.

18 With great force my garment is ²⁶disfigured; it binds me about like the collar of my tunic.

19 God^[c] has cast me into the mire, and I have become like ²⁷dust and ashes.

20 I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me.

21 You have ²⁸turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you ²⁹persecute me.

22 ³⁰You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it, and you toss me about in the roar of the storm.

23 ³¹For I know that you will bring me to death and to the house appointed for ³²all living.

24 “Yet does not one in a ³³heap of ruins stretch out his hand, and in his disaster cry for help? ^[d]

25 Did not I ³⁴weep for him whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?

26 But ³⁵when I hoped for good, evil came, and when I waited for light, ³⁶darkness came.

27 My inward parts are in turmoil and never still; days of affliction ³⁷come to meet me.

28 I ³⁸go about darkened, but not by the sun; I stand up in ³⁹the assembly and cry for help.

29 I am a brother of ⁴⁰jackals and a companion of ⁴¹ostriches.

30 My ⁴²skin turns black and falls from me, and my ⁴³bones burn with heat.

31 My ⁴⁴lyre is ⁴⁵turned to mourning, and my ⁴⁶pipe to the voice of those who weep.

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.

Cross References

• 1. 30:1 See ch. 12:4
• 2. 30:1 ch. 32:6; [ch. 32:4]
• 3. 30:2 For ver. 2-8, see ch. 24:4-8
• 4. 30:2 [ch. 5:26]
• 5. 30:3 [ver. 17]
• 6. 30:3 Jer. 2:6
• 7. 30:3 ch. 38:27; Zeph. 1:15
• 8. 30:5 [1 Sam. 26:19]
• 9. 30:6 1 Sam. 13:6; Jer. 4:29
• 10. 30:7 ch. 6:5
• 11. 30:7 Prov. 24:31; Zeph. 2:9
• 12. 30:9 Ps. 69:12; Lam. 3:14, 63
• 13. 30:9 See ch. 17:6
• 14. 30:10 Ps. 88:8; [ch. 17:6]
• 15. 30:10 Num. 12:14; Isa. 50:6; Matt. 26:67; 27:30
• 16. 30:12 Ps. 109:6
• 17. 30:12 ch. 19:12
• 18. 30:13 ch. 6:2
• 19. 30:14 ch. 16:14
• 20. 30:15 See ch. 18:11
• 21. 30:15 ch. 7:9; Isa. 44:22
• 22. 30:16 1 Sam. 1:15; [ch. 10:1]
• 23. 30:17 [ch. 7:3]
• 24. 30:17 ch. 33:19
• 25. 30:17 ver. 3
• 26. 30:18 [1 Sam. 28:8; 1 Kgs. 20:38]
• 27. 30:19 ch. 42:6; [Gen. 18:27]
• 28. 30:21 Lam. 4:3; [Isa. 63:10]
• 29. 30:21 ch. 16:9
• 30. 30:22 [ch. 27:21]
• 31. 30:23 ch. 19:25
• 32. 30:23 ch. 28:21
• 33. 30:24 Ps. 79:1; Jer. 26:18; Mic. 1:6; 3:12
• 34. 30:25 Ps. 35:13, 14; Rom. 12:15
• 35. 30:26 Jer. 8:15; 14:19
• 36. 30:26 ch. 10:21, 22
• 37. 30:27 2 Sam. 22:6; Ps. 18:5
• 38. 30:28 Ps. 38:6; 42:9; 43:2
• 39. 30:28 Prov. 26:26
• 40. 30:29 Mic. 1:8
• 41. 30:29 Isa. 13:21; 34:13; Jer. 50:39; Mic. 1:8
• 42. 30:30 [Ps. 119:83; Lam. 4:8; 5:10]
• 43. 30:30 Ps. 102:3
• 44. 30:31 ch. 21:12
• 45. 30:31 Lam. 5:15
• 46. 30:31 ch. 21:12

Footnotes

• [a] 30:4 Or 'warmth'
• [b] 30:11 Hebrew 'the bridle'
• [c] 30:19 Hebrew 'He'
• [d] 30:24 The meaning of the Hebrew is 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.