Job 30:29

29 I am a companion for [the] jackals and a companion for {ostriches}.

Job 30:29 Meaning and Commentary

Job 30:29

I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
] Or ostriches, as the Targum, Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions; either he was obliged to dwell with such persons as were comparable to these creatures for their devouring words, hissing noise, and venomous speeches, or for want of compassion, and for their cruelty, as David is said to be among lions, ( Psalms 57:4 ) ; or also, he was like unto them, being solitary and alone, all his friends and acquaintance standing at a distance from him, as these creatures love lonesome and desolate places; or because of the wailing and howling noise they make, to which his mournful notes bore some resemblance, (See Gill on Micah 1:8); or because, when these creatures cry and howl, and make a noise, no mercy is shown to them, none pities or regards them; and so it was with him; though he stood and cried in ever so public a manner, none had any compassion on him.

Job 30:29 In-Context

27 My bowels are in turmoil, and they are not still; days of misery come to confront me.
28 I go [about] in mourning garb, [but] not in sunlight; I stand up in the assembly, [and] I cry for help.
29 I am a companion for [the] jackals and a companion for {ostriches}.
30 My skin turns black on me, and my bones burn with heat.
31 So my lyre came to be [used] for mourning, and my flute [for the] voice of [those who] weep.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Literally "daughters of ostrich"
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