Text -- Job 30:16-23 (NET)

Job’s Despondency

30:16 “And now my soul pours itself out within me; days of suffering take hold of me. 30:17 Night pierces my bones; my gnawing pains never cease. 30:18 With great power God grasps my clothing; he binds me like the collar of my tunic. 30:19 He has flung me into the mud, and I have come to resemble dust and ashes. 30:20 I cry out to you, but you do not answer me; I stand up, and you only look at me. 30:21 You have become cruel to me; with the strength of your hand you attack me. 30:22 You pick me up on the wind and make me ride on it; you toss me about in the storm. 30:23 I know that you are bringing me to death, to the meeting place for all the living.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Job 30:16

¹ tn This line can either mean that Job is wasting away (i.e., his life is being poured out), or it can mean that he is grieving. The second half of the verse gives the subordinate clause of condition for this.

NET Notes: Job 30:17

¹ tn The subject of the verb “pierces” can be the night (personified), or it could be God (understood), leaving “night” to be an adverbial accusative of time – “at night he pierces.”

² tc The MT concludes this half-verse with “upon me.” That phrase is not in the LXX, and so many commentators delete it as making the line too long.

³ tn Heb “my gnawers,” which is open to several interpretations. The NASB and NIV take it as “gnawing pains”; cf. NRSV “the pain that gnaws me.” Some suggest worms in the sores (7:5). The LXX has “my nerves,” a view accepted by many commentators.

NET Notes: Job 30:18

¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² tc This whole verse is difficult. The first problem is that this verb in the MT means “is disguised [or disfigured],” indicating that Job’s clothes hang loose on him. But many take the view that the verb is a phonetic variant of חָבַשׁ (khavash, “to bind; to seize”) and that the Hitpael form is a conflation of the third and second person because of the interchange between them in the passage (R. Gordis, Job, 335). The commentaries list a number of conjectural emendations, but the image in the verse is probably that God seizes Job by the garment and throws him down.

³ tn The phrase “like the collar” is difficult, primarily because their tunics did not have collars. A translation of “neck” would suit better. Some change the preposition to בּ (bet), getting a translation “by the neck of my tunic.”

NET Notes: Job 30:20

¹ sn The implication from the sentence is that this is a cry to God for help. The sudden change from third person (v. 19) to second person (v. 20) is indicative of the intense emotion of the sufferer.

² sn The verb is simple, but the interpretation difficult. In this verse it probably means he stands up in prayer (Jer 15:1), but it could mean that he makes his case to God. Others suggest a more figurative sense, like the English expression “stand pat,” meaning “remain silent” (see Job 29:8).

³ tn If the idea of prayer is meant, then a pejorative sense to the verb is required. Some supply a negative and translate “you do not pay heed to me.” This is supported by one Hebrew ms and the Vulgate. The Syriac has the whole colon read with God as the subject, “you stand and look at me.”

NET Notes: Job 30:21

¹ tn The idiom uses the Niphal verb “you are turned” with “to cruelty.” See Job 41:20b, as well as Isa 63:10.

² tc The LXX reads this verb as “you scourged/whipped me.” But there is no reason to adopt this change.

NET Notes: Job 30:22

¹ sn Here Job changes the metaphor again, to the driving storm. God has sent his storms, and Job is blown away.

² tn The verb means “to melt.” The imagery would suggest softening the ground with the showers (see Ps 65:10 [11]). The translation “toss…about” comes from the Arabic cognate that is used for the surging of the sea.

³ tc The Qere is תּוּשִׁיָּה (tushiyyah, “counsel”), which makes no sense here. The Kethib is a variant orthography for תְּשֻׁאָה (tÿshu’ah, “storm”).

NET Notes: Job 30:23

¹ tn The imperfect verb would be a progressive imperfect, it is future, but it is also already underway.