Job 30:29

Job 30:29 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
• New International Version (NIV)I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of owls.
• English Standard Version (ESV)I am a brother of jackals and a companion of ostriches.
• New King James Version (NKJV)I am a brother of jackals, And a companion of ostriches.

Context of Job 30:29

27I am seething within and my heart is troubled and cannot rest; Days of affliction come to meet me. 28I go about mourning without comfort [my skin blackened by disease, not by the heat of the sun]; I stand up in the assembly and cry out for help. I am a brother to [howling] jackals, And a companion to ostriches [which scream dismally]. 30My skin falls from me in blackened flakes, And my bones are burned with fever. 31Therefore my lyre (harp) is used for [the sound of] mourning, And my flute for the [sound of the] voices of those who weep.

Job 30:29 word by word

אָ֭ח הָיִ֣יתִי לְתַנִּ֑ים וְ֝רֵ֗עַ לִבְנ֥וֹת יַעֲנָֽה׃Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• I am a brotherאָח'âch · brother: male-siblingH251
• to dragonsתַּןtannîyn tannîym · jackalH8577
• and a companionרֵעַrêa‛ rêya‛ · neighborH7453
• to owlsיַעֲנָהya‛ănâh · ostrichH3284
• to owlsבַּתbath · daughterH1323

Cross-references for Job 30:29

• Job 17:14If I call out to the pit (grave), ‘You are my father’; And to the worm [that feeds on decay], ‘You are my mother and my sister [because I will soon be closest to you],’
• Psalms 102:6I am like a [mournful] vulture of the wilderness; I am like a [desolate] owl of the wasteland.
• Isaiah 13:21But desert creatures will lie down there, And their houses will be full of owls; Ostriches also will live there, and wild goats will dance there.
• Isaiah 38:14Like a swallow, like a crane, so I chirp; I coo like a dove. My eyes look wistfully upward; O Lord, I am oppressed, take my side and be my security.
• Micah 1:8Because of this I [Micah] must lament (mourn over with expressions of grief) and wail, I must go barefoot and naked [without outer garments as if robbed]; I must wail like the jackals And lament [with a loud, mournful cry] like the ostriches.
• Malachi 1:3but [in comparison with My love for Jacob] I have hated Esau (Edom), and I have made his mountains a wasteland, and have given his inheritance to the jackals of the wilderness.”

Commentaries on Job 30:29

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 29I am a brother to dragons - By my mournful and continual cry I resemble תנים tannim, the jackals or hyenas. And a companion to owls - יענה בנות 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.Read the comment
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 29I am a brother to dragons - That is, my loud complaints and cries resemble the doleful screams of wild animals, or of the most frightful monsters. The word “brother” is often used in this sense, to denote similarity in any respect. The word “dragons” here (תנין tannı̂yn ), denotes properly a sea-monster, a great fish, a crocodile; or the fancied animal with wings called a dragon; see the notes at Isaiah 13:22. Gesenius, Umbreit, and Noyes, render this…Read the comment
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 15-31Verses 15-31 Job complains a great deal. Harbouring hard thoughts of God was the sin which did, at this time, most easily beset Job. When inward temptations join with outward calamities, the soul is hurried as in a tempest, and is filled with confusion. But woe be to those who really have God for an enemy! Compared with the awful state of ungodly men, what are all outward, or even inward temporal afflictions? There is something with which Job comforts…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 29Job might have been expressing how he saw himself, how others saw him, or both. By saying he was a brother of jackals, a companion to owls, Job might have been describing his deep grief (Micah 1:8). People associated jackals with things devastated or ruins (see Psalm 63:10; Isaiah 13:22; 34:13; 35:7; Jeremiah 9:11; 10:22; 49:33; 51:37; Lamentations 5:18; Ezekiel 13:4; Malachi 1:3).Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2929. dragons ... owls--rather, "jackals," "ostriches," both of which utter dismal screams (Mi 1:8); in which respect, as also in their living amidst solitudes (the emblem of desolation), Job is their brother and companion; that is, resembles them. "Dragon," Hebrew, tannim, usually means the crocodile; so perhaps here, its open jaws lifted towards heaven, and its noise making it seem as if it mourned over its fate [Bochart].Read the comment

Topics related to Job 30:29

• Ostriches
• Owl

In the dictionaries

• Cord
• Dissolve
• Dragon
• Owl
• Prevent
• Profit
• Thief
• Brother
• Jackal
• Job, Book of

Commentaries on Job 30

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Rashi on Tanakh
• Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary