Chapter Overview
Summary
Job 30 contrasts Job's-prior-honor (chapter 29) with his-current-degradation. The recurring 'BUT NOW' (vatah, vv. 1, 9, 16) marks the bitter-reversal: now-mocked by despicable-outcasts, now-physically-broken, now-spiritually-abandoned. Verse 25's 'did not I weep for him whose day was hard?' echoes the not-mocking-of-others'-misery ethic.
Notable Variants
30:1 'BUT NOW' bitter-reversal marker; 30:23 'you will bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living'; 30:25 'did I not weep for him whose day was hard?'
Structural Notes
MT Job 30 = LXX Job 30. 31 verses.
But now they laugh at me — men younger than I, whose fathers I would not have placed among the dogs that guard my flock.
'But now they laugh at me, men who are younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock' tracks MT. BUT-NOW reversal. Despised-young-men now-mock the formerly-honored Job.
The strength of their hands — what use was it to me? All vigor had perished from them.
'What could I gain from the strength of their hands, men whose vigor is gone?' tracks MT.
Gaunt with want and hunger, they gnawed the dry ground — the dark wasteland of desolation and ruin.
'Through want and hard hunger they gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation' tracks MT.
They pluck salt-herb among the shrubs, and broom-root is their bread.
'They pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes, and the roots of the broom tree for their food' tracks MT.
They are driven out from the community; people shout after them as after a thief.
'They are driven out from human company; they shout after them as after a thief' tracks MT.
They live in the gullies of the wadis, in holes in the ground and among the rocks.
'In the gullies of the torrents they must dwell, in holes of the earth and of the rocks' tracks MT.
They bray among the bushes; they huddle together beneath the nettles.
'Among the bushes they bray; under the nettles they huddle together' tracks MT.
Sons of the senseless, sons of the nameless — whipped out of the land.
'A senseless, a nameless brood, they have been whipped out of the land' tracks MT.
But now I have become their mocking song; I have become their byword.
'And now I have become their song; I am a byword to them' tracks MT. JOB-AS-SONG-OF-MOCKERY. Christological-typology — Christ-as-mocked at Matt 27:39–43.
They despise me and keep their distance; they do not hold back from spitting in my face.
'They abhor me; they keep aloof from me; they do not hesitate to spit at the sight of me' tracks MT. SPIT-AT-ME. Matthew 26:67 spit-on-Jesus parallel — Christological typology.
Because God has loosened my bowstring and humbled me, they have cast off all restraint before me.
'Because God has loosed my cord and humbled me, they have cast off restraint in my presence' tracks MT.
At my right the rabble rise; they drive me from my path and build their siege ramps against me.
'On my right hand the rabble rises; they push away my feet; they cast up against me their ways of destruction' tracks MT.
They tear up my path; they profit from my ruin — no one restrains them.
'They break up my path; they promote my calamity; they need no one to help them' tracks MT.
They pour through like a wide breach; amid the crash of ruin they roll over me.
'As through a wide breach they come; amid the crash they roll on' tracks MT.
Terrors are turned loose against me; my dignity is chased away like wind, and my well-being passes like a cloud.
'Terrors are turned upon me; my honor is pursued as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed away like a cloud' tracks MT.
But now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have seized me.
'And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction have taken hold of me' tracks MT. SOUL-POURED-OUT. Ps 22:14's 'I am poured out like water' Christologically extends to the cross. Phil 2:7's 'emptied himself' shares the kenōsis vocabulary-family.
At night my bones are pierced through; my gnawing pains never rest.
'The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest' tracks MT.
With great force my garment is disfigured; it grips me tight like the collar of my tunic.
'With great force my garment is disfigured; it binds about me like the collar of my tunic' tracks MT.
He has thrown me into the mud, and I have become like dust and ashes.
'God has cast me into the mire, and I have become like dust and ashes' tracks MT. DUST-AND-ASHES — Job's self-description anticipates 42:6 ('I despise myself, and repent in dust and ashes').
I cry out to you, and you do not answer me; I stand before you, and you only stare at me.
'I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me' tracks MT.
You have turned cruel against me; with the full force of your hand you attack me.
'You have turned cruel to me; with the might of your hand you persecute me' tracks MT.
You lift me up on the wind and drive me before it; you dissolve me in the storm.
'You lift me up on the wind; you make me ride on it, and you toss me about in the roar of the storm' tracks MT.
I know you will return me to death, to the house appointed for every living thing.
'For I know that you will bring me to death and to the house appointed for all living' tracks MT. HOUSE-APPOINTED-FOR-ALL-LIVING — death's-rendezvous. Hebrews 9:27 ('it is appointed for man to die once') extends.
Surely a drowning man reaches out his hand; surely in his disaster he cries for help.
'Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand, and in his disaster cry for help?' tracks MT.
Did I not weep for the one whose days were hard? Was my soul not grieved for the poor?
'Did not I weep for him whose day was hard? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?' tracks MT. WEEPING-WITH-THOSE-WHO-WEEP. Romans 12:15 ('weep with those who weep') extends. Job's-prior-empathy stands as moral-witness.
I hoped for good, but evil came; I waited for light, but darkness arrived.
'But when I hoped for good, evil came, and when I waited for light, darkness came' tracks MT.
My insides churn without rest; days of affliction confront me.
'My inward parts are in turmoil and never still; days of affliction come to meet me' tracks MT.
I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I rise in the assembly and cry for help.
'I go about darkened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help' tracks MT.
I have become a brother to jackals, a companion to ostriches.
'I am a brother of jackals and a companion of ostriches' tracks MT. JACKALS-AND-OSTRICHES — wilderness-isolation imagery.
My skin turns black and peels from me; my bones burn with fever.
'My skin turns black and falls from me, and my bones burn with heat' tracks MT.
My harp is tuned to mourning, and my flute to the sound of weeping.
'My lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep' tracks MT. LYRE-TO-MOURNING — joy-instruments-of-prior-life now-converted-to-grief-music. Lam 5:15 ('the joy of our hearts has ceased; our dancing has been turned to mourning') parallels.