Job 30:29

²⁸I go about blackened, but not by the sun. I stand up in the assembly and cry for help. ²⁹I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of ostriches. ³⁰My skin grows black and peels, and my bones burn with fever.

Summary

In this verse, Job expresses his distress and sorrow, feeling overwhelmed by his suffering and the lack of help or compassion from others. He laments the lack of justice and the harsh treatment he has received, highlighting the deep emotional pain he is enduring. Job's words reflect the human experience of feeling abandoned and misunderstood during times of great trial and tribulation. Despite his anguish, Job's honesty and raw emotions serve as a reminder that it is acceptable to bring our deepest struggles and complaints before God, who understands our pain and offers comfort and solace in our darkest moments.

Commentary

Adam Clarke
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
John Gill
Tyndale

Adam Clarke Bible Commentary

I am a brother to dragons - By my mournful and continual cry I resemble תנים tannim, the jackals or hyenas. And a companion to owls - בנות יענה benoth yaanah, to the daughters of howling: generally understood to be the ostrich; for both the jackal and the female ostrich are remarkable for their mournful cry, and for their attachment to desolate places - Dodd.

John Gill Bible Commentary

I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls. Or ostriches, as the Targum, Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions; either he was obliged to dwell with such persons as were comparable to these creatures for their devouring words, hissing noise, and venomous speeches, or for want of compassion, and for their cruelty, as David is said to be among lions, Psa 57:4; or also, he was like unto them, being solitary and alone, all his friends and acquaintance standing at a distance from him, as these creatures love lonesome and desolate places; or because of the wailing and howling noise they make, to which his mournful notes bore some resemblance; see Gill on Mic 1:8; or because, when these creatures cry and howl, and make a noise, no mercy is shown to them, none pities or regards them; and so it was with him; though he stood and cried in ever so public a manner, none had any compassion on him. ; or because, when these creatures cry and howl, and make a noise, no mercy is shown to them, none pities or regards them; and so it was with him; though he stood and cried in ever so public a manner, none had any compassion on him. Job 30:30 job 30:30 job 30:30 job 30:30My skin is black upon me,.... Either through deep melancholy, as may be observed in persons of such a disposition, through grief and trouble; or rather through the force of his disease, the burning ulcers and black scabs with which he was covered, as the Jews were through famine, in their captivity, Lam 4:8; and my bones are burnt with heat; with the heat of a burning fever; which not only made his inwards boil, but reached to his bones, and dried up the marrow of them. Galen says (r) that bones may become so dry as to be crumbled into sand: the Syriac version is "my bones are burnt as his who is in a hot wind;'' such as were common in the eastern countries, which killed men at once, and they became as black as a coal (s). (r) Apud Bartholin. de Cruce, sect. 12. p. 107. (s) See Gill on Job 27:21.