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 were] solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.

4 Who cut up mallows by 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 To dwell in the clefts of the valleys, [in] caves of the earth, and [in] the rocks.

7 Among the bushes they brayed; under the nettles they were collected.