Chapter Thirty

Job’s second speech to his friends. 1–11. Description of his present condition – contempt from the most worthless people. 12–28. Of diseases. 29–31. Of sorrow.

Job 30:1. But now those younger than I in years mock me, those whose fathers I would not have deigned to set with the dogs of my flock. Job 30:2. What could their strength avail me? Their time had passed. Complete contrast to the happy, glorious past is presented by Job’s present position. Respected formerly by elders and the noble (Job 29:3-10), he is now subjected to mockery from those younger in years and moreover from the dregs of society. Their “fathers I would not have deigned to set with the dogs of my flock” – with one of the most despicable animals in the east (1 Sam 17:43; 2 Sam 8:13; Eccl 9:4).

Job 30:3. Exhausted by poverty and hunger, they fled to the barren, gloomy, and desolate wilderness; Job 30:4. they pick herbs beside the bushes, and juniper berries are their food. Job 30:5. They are driven out from society, cried out at as thieves, Job 30:6. so that they dwell in gullies of ravines, in caves of the earth and in caves of rocks. Job 30:7. They roar among the bushes, they huddle together under the thorns. Job 30:8. The outcasts of society, men without name, the refuse of the earth! Job is mocked by persons whose way of life does not even deserve the name of humans. Dwellers of the deserts, exhausted by hunger, they feed, like animals, on saltbush (Hebrew “maluach”, Greek αλιμα; Russian “herbs beside the bushes”; cf. the remarks of Athenaeus about the poor Pythagoreans: “ αλιμα ψώγοντες καὶ κακὰ τοιαυτα συλλέγοντες “), and bitter roots of drosera. Rejected by society, driven out of it (v. 5), they have no human dwellings, live, like animals, in soil depressions (“gullies of ravines”), cavities of rocks (cf. Job 24:5-6) and in a purely animal manner express their needs – “they roar” (cf. Job 6:5).

Job 30:9. Now I have become their song, a byword to them. Job 30:10. They abhor me, they shun me, and do not refrain from spitting in my face. This “refuse of the earth” (v. 8) has made Job the subject of mocking songs (Hebrew “neginata” cf. Ps 68:13; Lam 3:14). With feelings of disgust (cf. Job 19:19) they flee from the sufferer and if they come to him, only in order to express their contempt by spitting (cf. Job 17:6).

Job 30:11. Because He has loosed my cord and afflicted me, they have cast off restraint before me. The reason for such treatment lies in Job’s sufferings. God “has loosed my cord,” more precisely, my “rope” (Hebrew “itri”) – vital force (cf. Jer 10:20; Eccl 12:6), took away vigor and strength of limbs. And people, seeing the calamitous position of the sufferer, have no least restraint in mockery (“cast off restraint”) toward the one who formerly enjoyed respect (cf. Job 12:5). The LXX translation, Slavonic, Vulgate, and some modern exegetes (Ewald), reading instead of “itri” “itro” – “my quiver” – translate the whole passage thus: “God opened His quiver” that is, afflicted Job with the arrows of His wrath (cf. Job 6:4). But even with such a translation, the meaning of this verse does not change: by diseases and sufferings, Job’s strength has been taken away.

Job 30:12. On my right side a brood rises up; they trip me and build a siege ramp against me. Job 30:13. They break up my path; they promote my calamity; no one stands beside them to help. Job 30:14. As through a wide breach they come; amid the crash they roll in. The subject of these verses is not the persons described above, but the diseases that have come upon Job. The account of sufferings in Job 16:9 serves as proof of this. Having spoken of the latter in v. 11 as the cause of mockery, Job now turns to their description. The marks of divine wrath, accusers of Job of sins (Job 10:15) and therefore called those standing on the right (cf. Ps 108:6; Zech 3:1), they in their multitude (“a brood,” more precisely, “a swarm”) are distinguished by such extraordinary strength (“they trip me”) that one, without outside help, can destroy Job (v. 13).

Job 30:14. As through a wide breach they come; amid the crash they roll in. And nothing hinders them in this: they rush upon Job as warriors on a besieged city after a wide breach has been made in its walls (cf. Job 16:14). – “Amid the crash they roll in,” more precisely: “amid the rubble (of collapsing walls) they are hurled.”

Job 30:15. Terrors have seized upon me; my dignity is swept away as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed away as a cloud. Although disease has not yet destroyed Job, its results are evident. He is in fear of approaching death (“terrors have seized”; cf. Job 18:14); in dependence on misfortunes, former greatness and happiness have vanished (v. 1, 11) without trace, like wind and cloud (cf. Job 7:9; Isa 44:22).

Job 30:16. And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have seized me. Furthermore, under the influence of sufferings, Job’s soul is full of sorrow and sadness: “my soul is poured out” (cf. Ps 41:4-6; Lam 2:19), and there is no hope for relief from grief; it holds him tightly.

Job 30:17. My bones ache in the night, and my sinews are never at rest. Even the night brings no peace (cf. Job 7:3): “the night gnaws at my bones” and the “gnawing” (Hebrew “orkai”; cf. v. 3; Russian “sinews”), that is, worms (cf. Job 7:5), do not sleep – do not give rest.

Job 30:18. With great effort my garment is removed; it binds me like the collar of my tunic. The Synodal translation presents an inaccurate rendering of the original text. The literal translation of it is thus: “by the almighty power (it is understood, of God) my clothing is deformed; He constricts me like the collar of my tunic.” Since the Hebrew “lebusti” (“my clothing”) is used in the sense of “my skin” (cf. Job 41:5), Job wants to say that his skin, ulcerated by worms (v. 17) and also by disease, has taken on a hideous appearance.

Job 30:19. He has cast me into the mud, and I have become like dust and ashes. Colored red at the beginning of the disease, it has now become black and scaly, has taken on the appearance of a crust of earthy, muddy color (Delitzsch).

Job 30:20. I cry to You, and You do not answer me; I stand, and You only look at me. Job 30:21. You have become cruel to me; with Your mighty hand You oppose me. Job 30:22. You lift me up and make me ride on the wind; You toss me about in the storm. Job 30:23. Yes, I know that You will bring me to death and to the house of assembly of all the living. God’s present cruel treatment of Job deprives him of the ability to hope for relief of his position in the future (cf. Job 7:5-10). Indifferent and unmoved to Job’s prayer (v. 20; cf. Job 19:7; cf. Job 22:27), God continues to let him feel all the power of His might (v. 21; cf. Job 10:16); by the calamities that have befallen him, he is seized, like by a strong wind, thrown to the ground and crushed (v. 22). The natural consequence of all this, the final act of enmity, will be death – descent into Sheol – “the house of assembly of all the living” (v. 23, cf. Job 3:18, etc.).

Job 30:24. Surely He does not strike down one who calls for help in his distress? Did not he cry out in his ruin? With Job’s death, the violence from God will surely end (“does not strike down”; cf. Job 2:5), and the bones being turned to dust (“in his ruin”) will not complain of oppression. But what profit is there from this, when in Sheol all find rest anyway (Job 3:17)? Such is the sense of the Synodal reading, which does not convey the thought of the original. According to the opinion of Delitzsch and other exegetes, it should be translated thus: “does the one perishing not stretch out his hand? does the one in calamity not cry out?” Job is certain of the inevitability of death (v. 23) and nevertheless cannot help but beg for mercy. His cries are the manifestation of the indestructible human sense of self-preservation.

Job 30:25. Did I not weep for those in trouble? Was not my soul grieved for the poor? Job 30:26. When I hoped for good, evil came; when I waited for light, darkness came. On the other hand, they are a protest of righteousness against obvious injustice. By his former conduct, sympathy and compassion for the unfortunate (v. 25; cf. Job 29:12, etc. Job 31:19-20) Job deserves not enmity and punishment by death, but mercy, preservation of life (cf. Ps 40:2-4). And yet his lot is nothing but misfortunes.

Job 30:27. My heart is troubled and will not be still; days of affliction have met me. Under the influence of this obvious injustice, Job comes into a state of extreme agitation (“my heart is troubled”; cf. Isa 16:11; Jer 31:20; Lam 1:20), falls into deep sorrow.

Job 30:28. I go about darkened, not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry out. He walks “darkened,” Hebrew “koder” – sorrowful, with bowed head (Ps 34:14) “without the sun,” without hope for any improvement of his lot, and loudly declares his grief before those gathered for his comfort.

Job 30:29. I am a brother to jackals and a companion to the ostriches. These declarations have the character of laments, and in them Job became like jackals, which utter a terrible howl during the night, and ostriches, whose whistle-like cry is replaced by mournful groans (cf. Mic 1:8).

Job 30:30. My skin has become black on me, and my bones burn from the heat. See v. 19.

Job 30:31. And my harp has turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep. For Job there are no joys: cheerful music (cf. Job 21:22) has turned into sorrowful weeping (cf. Ps 29:12; Lam 5:15; Amos 8:10).