New International Version
Job 30:4
4In the brush they gathered salt herbs, and their food was the root of the broom bush.
Job 30:4 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Who cut up mallows by the bushes, and juniper roots for their meat.
- English Standard Version (ESV)they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes, and the roots of the broom tree for their food.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Who pluck mallow by the bushes, And broom tree roots for their food.
- New Living Translation (NLT)They pluck wild greens from among the bushes and eat from the roots of broom trees.
Context of Job 30:4
2Of what use was the strength of their hands to me, since their vigor had gone from them? 3Haggard from want and hunger, they roamed the parched land in desolate wastelands at night. In the brush they gathered salt herbs, and their food was the root of the broom bush. 5They were banished from human society, shouted at as if they were thieves. 6They were forced to live in the dry stream beds, among the rocks and in holes in the ground.
Read all of Job 30Job 30:4 word by word
הַקֹּטְפִ֣ים מַלּ֣וּחַ עֲלֵי־שִׂ֑יחַ וְשֹׁ֖רֶשׁ רְתָמִ֣ים לַחְמָֽם׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 30:4
- 2 Kings 4:38Elisha returned to Gilgal and there was a famine in that region. While the company of the prophets was meeting with him, he said to his servant, “Put on the large pot and cook some stew for these prophets.”
- Amos 7:14Amos answered Amaziah, “I was neither a prophet nor the son of a prophet, but I was a shepherd, and I also took care of sycamore-fig trees.
- Luke 15:16He longed to fill his stomach with the pods that the pigs were eating, but no one gave him anything.
Commentaries on Job 30:4
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4Who cut up mallows by the bushes - מלוח malluach, which we translate mallows, comes from מלח melach, salt; some herb or shrub of a salt nature, sea-purslane, or the salsaria, salsola, or saltwort. Bochart says it is the ̔ of the Greeks, and the halimus of the Romans. Some translate it nettles. The Syriac and Arabic omit the whole verse. The halimus, or atriplex halimus, grows near the sea in different countries, and is found in Spain, America, England…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 4Who cut up mallows - For the purpose of eating. Mallows are common medicinal plants, famous for their emollient or softening properties, and the size and brilliancy of their flowers. It is not probable, however, that Job referred to what we commonly understand by the word mallows. It has been commonly supposed that he meant a species of plant, called by the Greeks Hallimus, a sunfish plant, or “salt wort,” growing commonly in the deserts and poor land…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 1-31Job compares his past happiness, honor, and wealth with his current loss of social dignity and divine friendship (chapters 29 and 30). He ends his speech with broad vows of innocence (chapter 31).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. mallows--rather, "salt-wort," which grows in deserts and is eaten as a salad by the poor [Maurer]. by the bushes--among the bushes. juniper--rather, a kind of broom, Spartium junceum [Linnæus], still called in Arabia, as in the Hebrew of Job, retem, of which the bitter roots are eaten by the poor.Read the comment
Topics related to Job 30:4
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
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