English Standard Version
Job 3:24
24For my sighing comes instead of my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water.
Job 3:24 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.
- New International Version (NIV)For sighing has become my daily food; my groans pour out like water.
- New King James Version (NKJV)For my sighing comes before I eat, And my groanings pour out like water.
- New Living Translation (NLT)I cannot eat for sighing; my groans pour out like water.
Context of Job 3:24
22who rejoice exceedingly and are glad when they find the grave? 23Why is light given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in? For my sighing comes instead of my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water. 25For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me. 26I am not at ease, nor am I quiet; I have no rest, but trouble comes."
Read all of Job 3Job 3:24 word by word
כִּֽי־לִפְנֵ֣י לַ֭חְמִי אַנְחָתִ֣י תָבֹ֑א וַֽיִּתְּכ֥וּ כַ֝מַּ֗יִם שַׁאֲגֹתָֽי׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 3:24
- Job 7:19How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone till I swallow my spit?
- Psalms 80:5You have fed them with the bread of tears and given them tears to drink in full measure.
- Psalms 102:9For I eat ashes like bread and mingle tears with my drink,
- Psalms 22:1My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from saving me, from the words of my groaning?
- Psalms 32:3For when I kept silent, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
- Psalms 38:8I am feeble and crushed; I groan because of the tumult of my heart.
- Isaiah 59:11We all growl like bears; we moan and moan like doves; we hope for justice, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far from us.
- Lamentations 3:8though I call and cry for help, he shuts out my prayer;
Commentaries on Job 3:24
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 24For my sighing cometh - Some think that this refers to the ulcerated state of Job's body, mouth, hands, etc. He longed for food, but was not able to lift it to his mouth with his hands, nor masticate it when brought thither. This is the sense in which Origen has taken the words. But perhaps it is most natural to suppose that he means his sighing took away all appetite, and served him in place of meat. There is the same thought in Psalm 42:3; : My tears…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 24For my sighing cometh before I eat - Margin, “My meat.” Dr. Good renders this,” Behold! my sighing takes the place of my daily food, and refers to Psalm 42:3, as an illustration: My tears are my meat day and night. So substantially Schultens renders it, and explains it as meaning, “My sighing comes in the manner of my food,” “Suspirium ad modum panis veniens” - and supposes it to mean that his sighs and groans were like his daily food; or were constant…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 20-26Verses 20-26 Job was like a man who had lost his way, and had no prospect of escape, or hope of better times. But surely he was in an ill frame for death when so unwilling to live. Let it be our constant care to get ready for another world, and then leave it to God to order our removal thither as he thinks fit. Grace teaches us in the midst of life's greatest comforts, to be willing to die, and in the midst of its greatest crosses, to be willing to live…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 11-24Job's language shifts from wishing he was never born to grief. He goes from hating life towards an attraction for death. Job asks "why" seven times, as he has grief for his situation (3:11, 12, 16, 20, 23; see Psalms 10:1; 22:1; Jeremiah 20:18; Lamentations 5:20).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 2424. my sighing cometh before I eat--that is, prevents my eating [Umbreit]; or, conscious that the effort to eat brought on the disease, Job must sigh before eating [Rosenmuller]; or, sighing takes the place of good (Psa 42:3) [Good]. But the first explanation accords best with the text. my roarings are poured out like the waters--an image from the rushing sound of water streaming.Read the comment
Topics related to Job 3:24
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 3
- 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
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries