Job 30:5

5 They were driven forth from among men (they cried after them as after a thief).

Job 30:5 Meaning and Commentary

Job 30:5

They were driven from among [men]
From towns and cities, and all civil society, as unfit to be among them; not for any good, it may be observed, but for crimes that they had done, like our felons, and transported persons:

they cried after them as [after] a thief;
as they were driven and run along, the people called after them, saying, there goes a thief; which they said by way of abhorrence of them, and for the shame of them, and that all might be warned and cautioned against them; and, generally speaking, such as are idle and slothful, and thereby become miserable, are pilferers and thieves.

Job 30:5 In-Context

3 For want and famine they walked alone; fleeing into solitude, to the dark place, desolate and waste.

4 Who cut up mallows among the bushes and juniper roots for their food.

5 They were driven forth from among men (they cried after them as after a thief).

6 They dwelt in the clifts of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks.

7 Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were gathered together.