Job 30

1 But now [they that are] younger than I, have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock.

2 Yes, to what [might] the strength of their hands [profit] me, in whom old age had perished?

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.

8 [They were] children of fools, yes, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.

9 And now I am their song, yes, I am their by-word.

10 They abhor me, they flee far from me, and spare not to spit in my face.

11 Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.

12 Upon [my] right [hand] rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.

13 They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.

14 They came [upon me] as a wide breaking in [of waters]: in the desolation they rolled themselves [upon me].

15 Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.

16 And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.

17 My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.

18 By the great force [of my disease] is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.

19 He hath cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes.

20 I cry to thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me [not].

21 Thou hast become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me.

22 Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride [upon it], and dissolvest my substance.

23 For I know [that] thou wilt bring me [to] death, and [to] the house appointed for all living.

24 Yet he will not stretch out [his] hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.

25 Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was [not] my soul grieved for the poor?

26 When I looked for good, then evil came: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.

27 My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction came upon me.

28 I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, [and] I cried in the congregation.

29 I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.

30 My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.

31 My harp also is [turned] to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.

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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.

Taken from Matthew Henry Commentary on the Whole Bible (Concise)

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.