Job 30
Job 30 is a chapter in which Job expresses the hardships that have befallen him in a more urgent and vivid way. In the earlier chapters, Job (chapter 29) recalled his former glory, but now he takes a close, searching look at his present reality. Job laments being despised and mocked by people and admits that physical and mental suffering have overlapped. In particular, the chapter highlights how, whereas he used to be respected, even young people and those who are socially isolated now look down on Job. The first part of the chapter (verses 1–15) reveals shame and loneliness in human relationships, while the second part (verses 16–31) shows deeper inner anguish, an appeal to God, and a sense of despair.
1verse“But now those who are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I considered unworthy to put with my sheep dogs.
2verseOf what use is the strength of their hands to me, men in whom ripe age has perished?
3verseThey are gaunt from lack and famine. They gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of waste and desolation.
4verseThey pluck salt herbs by the bushes. The roots of the broom tree are their food.
5verseThey are driven out from among men. They cry after them as after a thief,
6verseso that they live in frightful valleys, and in holes of the earth and of the rocks.
7verseThey bray among the bushes. They are gathered together under the nettles.
8verseThey are children of fools, yes, children of wicked men. They were flogged out of the land.
9verse“Now I have become their song. Yes, I am a byword to them.
10verseThey abhor me, they stand aloof from me, and don’t hesitate to spit in my face.
11verseFor he has untied his cord, and afflicted me; and they have thrown off restraint before me.
12verseOn my right hand rise the rabble. They thrust aside my feet. They cast their ways of destruction up against me.
13verseThey mar my path. They promote my destruction without anyone’s help.
14verseAs through a wide breach they come. They roll themselves in amid the ruin.
15verseTerrors have turned on me. They chase my honor as the wind. My welfare has passed away as a cloud.
16verse“Now my soul is poured out within me. Days of affliction have taken hold of me.
17verseIn the night season my bones are pierced in me, and the pains that gnaw me take no rest.
18verseMy garment is disfigured by great force. It binds me about as the collar of my tunic.
19verseHe has cast me into the mire. I have become like dust and ashes.
20verseI cry to you, and you do not answer me. I stand up, and you gaze at me.
21verseYou have turned to be cruel to me. With the might of your hand you persecute me.
22verseYou lift me up to the wind, and drive me with it. You dissolve me in the storm.
23verseFor I know that you will bring me to death, to the house appointed for all living.
24verse“However doesn’t one stretch out a hand in his fall? Or in his calamity therefore cry for help?
25verseDidn’t I weep for him who was in trouble? Wasn’t my soul grieved for the needy?
26verseWhen I looked for good, then evil came. When I waited for light, darkness came.
27verseMy heart is troubled, and doesn’t rest. Days of affliction have come on me.
28verseI go mourning without the sun. I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.
29verseI am a brother to jackals, and a companion to ostriches.
30verseMy skin grows black and peels from me. My bones are burned with heat.
31verseTherefore my harp has turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of those who weep.
Key Points of Job 30
- Despair and mockery (verses 1–8): Job says that even those who were previously cared for by him—people far lower in status than he—mock him.
- Violence and encirclement (verses 9–15): Job receives physical and verbal contempt and portrays his life as collapsing like a city under siege.
- An outpouring of deep suffering (verses 16–23): Job is driven to despair by physical pain, fear, and God’s silence (or indifference). He confesses that he has come close to death.
- Despair and lament (verses 24–31): In the face of an irreversible reality, Job groans. He emphasizes that even when he hopes for fellowship and comfort, what returns is only suffering and sorrow.
Meditation Points
- We can reflect on the deep alienation and despair that Job feels, as well as the mystery in human suffering—something whose reason we cannot fully know.
- Realizing that a person’s honor and peace can change in a single day, we need to remember Job’s way of expressing his genuine emotions to God, regardless of whatever circumstances he finds himself in.
- It can be a time to reflect on an attitude that judges other people’s suffering too easily, and on the fact that we too can find ourselves just as easily in the same weakness.
Apply It to Me
- When, in the course of life, you face unexpected trials, you can have the courage to confess your pain honestly before God.
- You can have a warm heart that does not easily judge or despise your neighbor who is suffering, but instead truly grieves with them and comforts them.
- You can also resolve to keep the attitude of faith in which you rely on God consistently whether things are going well or whether you are going through hardship, and in which you humbly acknowledge your own weakness.
