Job 30:9

Job’s Indignities

30:9 “And now I have become their taunt song;

I have become a byword ¹  among them.

Job 30:1

Job’s Present Misery

30:1 “But now they mock me, those who are younger ²  than I,

whose fathers I disdained too much ³ 

to put with my sheep dogs. ⁴ 

Job 9:7

9:7 he who commands the sun and ⁵  it does not shine ⁶ 

and seals up ⁷  the stars;

Psalms 44:14

44:14 You made us ⁸  an object of ridicule ⁹  among the nations;

foreigners treat us with contempt. ¹⁰ 

[30:9]  ¹ tn The idea is that Job has become proverbial, people think of misfortune and sin when they think of him. The statement uses the ordinary word for “word” (מִלָּה, millah), but in this context it means more: “proverb; byword.”

[30:1]  ² tn Heb “smaller than I for days.”

[30:1]  ³ tn Heb “who I disdained their fathers to set…,” meaning “whose fathers I disdained to set.” The relative clause modifies the young fellows who mock; it explains that Job did not think highly enough of them to put them with the dogs. The next verse will explain why.

[30:1]  ⁴ sn Job is mocked by young fellows who come from low extraction. They mocked their elders and their betters. The scorn is strong here – dogs were despised as scavengers.

[9:7]  ⁵ tn The form could also be subordinated, “that it shine not” (see further GKC 323 §109.g).

[9:7]  ⁶ tn The verb זָרַח (zarakh) means “rise.” This is the ordinary word for the sunrise. But here it probably has the idea of “shine; glisten,” which is also attested in Hebrew and Aramaic.

[9:7]  ⁷ tn The verb חָתַם (khatam) with בְּעַד (bÿ’ad) before its complement, means “to seal; to wall up; to enclose.” This is a poetic way of saying that God prevents the stars from showing their light.

[44:14]  ⁸ tn The prefixed verbal form is a preterite (without vav [ו] consecutive).

[44:14]  ⁹ tn Heb “a proverb,” or “[the subject of] a mocking song.”

[44:14]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “a shaking of the head among the peoples.” Shaking the head was a derisive gesture (see Jer 18:16; Lam 2:15).