Job 30:16-23

b. His unhappy misery (Job 30:16-23)

TEXT 30:16-23

16 And now my soul is poured oat within me;

Days of affliction have taken hold upon me.

17 In the night season my bones are pierced in me,

And the pains that gnaw me take no rest.

18 By God'S great force is my garment disfigured;

It bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.

19 He hath cast me into the mire,

And I am become like dust and ashes.

20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not answer me:

I stand up, and thou gazest at me.

21 Thou art turned to be cruel to me;

With the might of thy hand thou persecutest me.

22 Thou liftest me of to the wind,

thou causest me to ride upon it;

And thou disolvest me in the storm.

23 For I know that thou wilt bring me to death,

And to the house appointed for all living.

COMMENT 30:16-23

Job 30:16For the third time Job emphasizes the contrast between his past and present existenceand nowJob 30:1; Job 30:9; Job 30:16; Psalms 42:4. Now he experiences only days of afflictionJob 30:27 and Lamentations 1:7. His soul (nephesh) can absorb no more emotional strain. His suffering has drained him of all zest for life1 Samuel 1:15; Psalms 42:5; and Lamentations 2:19.

Job 30:17The subject of this verse could be either the night personified or He, i.e., God. The night pierces, or God pierces. The A. V. takes my bones as subject and renders the verb are pierced. The night is the time when his suffering is most severeJob 7:3; Job 7:13 ff. My gnawers (lit. Heb.) do not lie down, i.e., sleep.

Job 30:18If God is taken as the subject as in A. V., then God seizes his garment and distorts or disfigures it. The line suggests a tightly fitting collar that binds, but this is problematic in that eastern garments were loose and free flowing. Without extensive emendation, little sense can be made from the text. In spite of this fact, Job is declaring that his diseased body is very uncomfortable.

Job 30:19It is better to supply the unexpressed subject as God (Heb. has he, or it has cast), as there is no indication that the subject of this verse is any different from Job 30:18. It is probable that in both verses Job is reaffirming that God causes his pain and suffering. Perhaps dust and ashes are to be understood as symbolizing Job's humiliation.

Job 30:20Job cries to God for respite but God will not break His silence. The verb does not imply that God stared at as the A. V. rendering gazed might implyJob 19:7.

Job 30:21The verb rendered turned appears in Job 13:24; Job 19:11; and Isaiah 63:10. The image suggests one falling into enemy hands and being gradually and progressively infected with new and more intense pain.

Job 30:22This difficult verse has caused editors to provide many unconvincing emendations, but the basic sense is clear enough. The image shifts to that of a violent windstorm. He is tossed about and can neither control nor resist the wind. God rides the storm, but for Job it represents terror and destruction.

Job 30:23Though the Hebrew has bring me back in the sense of return, the context leaves little doubt that it should read bring him to death and leave him there. The grave is the house appointed for all the living.