God’s Word Translation
Job 30:29
29I’m a brother to jackals and a companion of ostriches.
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
27My insides are churning and won’t calm down. Days of misery are ahead of me. 28I walk in the dark without the sun. I stand up in public and call for help. I’m a brother to jackals and a companion of ostriches. 30My skin turns dark and peels. My body burns with fever. 31So my lyre is used for mourning and my flute for loud weeping.
Read all of Job 30Job 30:29 word by word
אָ֭ח הָיִ֣יתִי לְתַנִּ֑ים וְ֝רֵ֗עַ לִבְנ֥וֹת יַעֲנָֽה׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 30:29
- Job 17:14if I say to the pit, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘You are my mother and sister,’
- Psalms 102:6I am like a desert owl, like an owl living in the ruins.
- Isaiah 13:21Desert animals will lie down there. Their homes will be full of owls. Ostriches will live there, and wild goats will skip about.
- Isaiah 38:14I chirped like swallows and cranes. I cooed like doves. My eyes were tired from looking up to heaven. I’ve suffered miserably, O Lord! Please help me!
- Micah 1:8I will mourn and cry because of this. I will walk around barefoot and naked. I will cry like a jackal and mourn like an ostrich.
- Malachi 1:3but Esau I hated. I turned his mountains into a wasteland and left his inheritance to the jackals in the desert.
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
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
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
Commentaries