English Standard Version
Job 30:3
3Through want and hard hunger they gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation;
Job 30:3 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.
- New International Version (NIV)Haggard from want and hunger, they roamed the parched land in desolate wastelands at night.
- New King James Version (NKJV)They are gaunt from want and famine, Fleeing late to the wilderness, desolate and waste,
- New Living Translation (NLT)They are gaunt from poverty and hunger. They claw the dry ground in desolate wastelands.
Context of Job 30:3
1"But now they laugh at me, men who are younger than I, whose fathers I would have disdained to set with the dogs of my flock. 2What could I gain from the strength of their hands, men whose vigor is gone? Through want and hard hunger they gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation; 4they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes, and the roots of the broom tree for their food. 5They are driven out from human company; they shout after them as after a thief.
Read all of Job 30Job 30:3 word by word
בְּחֶ֥סֶר וּבְכָפָ֗ן גַּ֫לְמ֥וּד הַֽעֹרְקִ֥ים צִיָּ֑ה אֶ֝֗מֶשׁ שׁוֹאָ֥ה וּמְשֹׁאָֽה׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- For wantחֶ֫סֶרcheser · povertyH2639
- and famineכָּפָןkâphân · famineH3720
- solitaryגַּלְמוּדgalmûd · solitaryH1565
- fleeingעָרַק‛âraq · to gnawH6207
- into the wildernessצִיָּהtsîyâh · drynessH6723
- in former timeאֶ֫מֶשׁ'emesh · last nightH570
- desolateשׁוֹאָהshô' shô'âh shô'âh · devastationH7722
- and wasteמְשׁוֹאָהmeshô'âh meshô'âh · desolationH4875
Cross-references for Job 30:3
- Job 24:13"There are those who rebel against the light, who are not acquainted with its ways, and do not stay in its paths.
- Job 24:5Behold, like wild donkeys in the desert the poor go out to their toil, seeking game; the wasteland yields food for their children.
- Hebrews 11:38of whom the world was not worthy—wandering about in deserts and mountains, and in dens and caves of the earth.
Commentaries on Job 30:3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 3Fleeing into the wilderness - Seeking something to sustain life even in the barren desert. This shows the extreme of want, when the desert is supposed to be the only place where any thing to sustain life can possibly be found.Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 3For want and famine - By hunger and poverty their strength is wholly exhausted, and they are among the miserable outcasts of society. In order to show the depth to which he himself was sunk in public estimation, Job goes into a description of the state of these miserable wretches, and says that he was treated with contempt by the very scum of society, by those who were reduced to the most abject wretchedness, and who wandered in the deserts, subsisting on…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 2-3In the past, the most important members of society praised Job (29:11). Now, the least important made fun of him and spit in his face (30:1, 10). Compare with Psalms 35:15; 69:12; Mark 14:65; 15:17–20.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 33. solitary--literally, "hard as a rock"; so translate, rather, "dried up," emaciated with hunger. Job describes the rudest race of Bedouins of the desert [Umbreit]. fleeing--So the Septuagint. Better, as Syriac, Arabic, and Vulgate, "gnawers of the wilderness." What they gnaw follows in Job 30:4. in former time--literally, the "yesternight of desolation and waste" (the most utter desolation; Eze 6:14); that is, those deserts frightful as night to man…Read the comment
Topics related to Job 30:3
In the dictionaries
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
English Standard Version — © 2001 Crossway Bibles
Commentaries