Job 3:26
in Job 3I am not at ease or quiet; I have no rest, for trouble has come.”
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I am not at ease, neither am I quiet, neither have I rest; But trouble cometh.
KJV
I was not in safety, neither had I rest, neither was I quiet; yet trouble came.
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This verse in Job 3
Commentary
12 notes on this verseI was not in safety - If this verse be read interrogatively, it will give a good and easy sense: Was I not in safety? Had I not rest? Was I not in comfort? Yet trouble came. It is well known that, previously to this attack of Satan, Job was in great prosperity and peace. Mr. Good translates, I had no peace; yea, I had no rest. Yea, I had no respite, as the trouble came on; and refers the whole to the quick succession of the series of heavy evils by which he was tried.
This site's exposition
I sigh when food is put before me
on Job 3:24-26
The chapter closes on grief, sighing in place of appetite and groans. His "I have no rest, for trouble has come" answers the security the hedge of 1:10 had given him. The words "what I dreaded has befallen me" show a dread his God-fearing life carried before the trouble came.
This site's exposition
I am not at ease or quiet
Clarke reads the verse as questions, asking whether Job had ever been at ease, quiet or at rest before the trouble came. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown place it at the start of the trial, with no rest for Job from that day on. Both readings end in trouble.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
From this, Job's preparation against the adversary emerges. Even Paul, who possessed the hope and grace of the Spirit, was vigilant and fought the adversary, since he knew that for the holy the struggle "was not against enemies of blood and flesh but against the …
The Medieval Church2 voices
A man often suffers unhappiness and bitterness through his own fault. But this is not the case here, for Job says, "Have I not dissembled?" Understand here that someone sins and so merits punishment from God in two ways. In one way when from injuries …
Did I not dissemble it? Did I not hold my peace? Did I not rest quiet? Yet wrath came upon me. Though in every situation of life, we sin in thought, word, and deed, the mind is then hurried along in all these three ways with the greater freedom from control, when it is lifted up with this world's good fortune.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Quiet - I did not misbehave myself in prosperity, abusing it by presumption, and security, but I lived circumspectly, walking humbly with God, and working out my salvation with fear and trembling. Therefore in this sense also, his way was hid, he knew not why God contended with him.
It was Job's folly and weakness to curse his day. We must say of it, This was his infirmity; but good men have sometimes failed in the exercise of those graces which they have been most eminent for, that we may understand that when they are said to be perfect it is meant that they were upright, not that they were sinless.
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
He knew so much of the vanity of the world, and the troubles to which, of course, he was born, that he was not in safety, neither had he rest then. That which made his grief now the more grievous was that he was not conscious to himself of any great degree either of negligence or security in the day of his prosperity, which might provoke God thus to chastise him.
I was not in safety,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
I was not in safety . . . yet trouble came--referring, not to his former state, but to the beginning of his troubles. From that time I had no rest, there was no intermission of sorrows. "And" (not, "yet") a fresh trouble is coming, namely, my friends' suspicion of my being a hypocrite.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
I was not in safety - That is, I have, or I had no peace. שׁלה shâlâh Septuagint, οὔτε εἰρήνευσα oute eirēneusa - “I had no peace.” The sense is, that his mind had been disturbed with fearful alarms; or perhaps that at that time he was filled with dread. Neither had I rest - Trouble comes upon me in every form, and I am a stranger wholly to peace. The accumulation of phrases here, all meaning nearly the same thing, is descriptive of a state of great agitation of mind. Such an accumulation is not uncommon in the Bible to denote any thing which language can scarcely describe. So in Isa 8:22: And they shall look upward; And to the earth shall they look; And lo! rouble and darkness, Gloom, oppression, and deepened darkness. So Job 10:21-22: To the land of darkness and the death-shade, The land of darkness like the blackness of the death-shade, Where is no order, and where the light is as darkness. Thus, in the Hamasa (quoted by Dr Good), “Death, and devastation, and a remorseless disease, and a still heavier and more terrific family of evils.” The Chaldee has made a remarkable addition here, arising from the general design in the author of that Paraphrase, to explain everything. “Did I not dissemble when the annunciation was made to me respecting the oxen and the asses? Was I not stupid (unalarmed, or unmoved, שדוכית), when the report came about the conflagration? Was I not quiet, when the report came respecting the camels? And did not indignation come, when the report was made respecting my sons?” Yet trouble came - Or rather, “and trouble comes.” This is one of the cumulative expressions to denote the rapidity and the intensity of his sorrows. The word rendered “trouble” (רגז rôgez) means properly trembling, commotion, disquiet. Here it signifies such misery as made him tremble. […]
The words behind it
8 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לֹ֤א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| שָׁלַ֨וְתִּי׀ | shalavti | I am at ease | H7951 → | |
| וְלֹ֖א | velo' | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| שָׁקַ֥טְתִּי | shakati | I am at peace | H8252 → | 41 times |
| וְֽלֹא־ | velo'- | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| נָ֗חְתִּי | nacheti | I am at rest | H5117 → | 142 times |
| וַיָּ֥בֹא | vaiyavo' | and it has come | H935 → | 2568 times |
| רֹֽגֶז׃ פ | rogez | turmoil | H7267 → | 7 times |
לֹ֤אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
שָׁלַ֨וְתִּי׀I am at ease
shalavtiH7951 →
וְלֹ֖אand not
velo'H3808 →5168 times
שָׁקַ֥טְתִּיI am at peace
shakatiH8252 →41 times
וְֽלֹא־and not
velo'-H3808 →5168 times
נָ֗חְתִּיI am at rest
nachetiH5117 →142 times
וַיָּ֥בֹאand it has come
vaiyavo'H935 →2568 times
רֹֽגֶז׃ פturmoil
rogezH7267 →7 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 143:11For the sake of Your name, O LORD, revive me. In Your righteousness, bring my soul out of trouble.
it leads to
- Psalms 31:1
In You, O LORD, I have taken refuge; let me never be put to shame; save me by Your righteousness.
- Ephesians 2:4–5
But because of His great love for us, God, who is rich in mercy,
- Psalms 71:2
In Your justice, rescue and deliver me; incline Your ear and save me.
- Psalms 119:25
My soul cleaves to the dust; revive me according to Your word.
- Psalms 31:1
Through
Job 27:9Will God hear his cry when distress comes upon him?
it leads to
- Jeremiah 14:12
Although they may fast, I will not listen to their cry; although they may offer burnt offerings and grain offerings, I will not accept them. Instead, I will finish them off by sword and…
- Isaiah 1:15
When you spread out your hands in prayer, I will hide My eyes from you; even though you multiply your prayers, I will not listen. Your hands are covered with blood.
- Proverbs 1:28
Then they will call on me, but I will not answer; they will earnestly seek me, but will not find me.
- Micah 3:4
Then they will cry out to the LORD, but He will not answer them. At that time He will hide His face from them because of the evil they have done.
- Jeremiah 14:12
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
About Job
This page draws on 10 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Didymus the Blind, COMMENTARY ON JOB 3:26; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book V; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.