Job 30:12
in Job 30The rabble arises at my right; they lay snares for my feet and build siege ramps against me.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Upon my right hand rise the rabble; They thrust aside my feet, And they cast up against me their ways of destruction.
KJV
Upon my right hand rise the youth; they push away my feet, and they raise up against me the ways of their destruction.
⋯
This verse in Job 30
Commentary
9 notes on this verseUpon my right hand rise the youth - The word פרחח pirchach, which we translate youth, signifies properly buds, or the buttons of trees. Mr. Good has younglings. Younkers would be better, were it not too colloquial. They push away my feet - They trip up my heels, or they in effect trample me under their feet. They rush upon and overwhelm me. They are violently incensed against me.
This site's exposition
The rabble arises at my right
on Job 30:12-14
“The rabble arises at my right”, the right hand being the place of an accuser in ancient legal custom, as Delitzsch notes from Psalm 109:6. These men without pity “build siege ramps against me” and “tear up my path”, “with no one to restrain them”.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
You see what especially afflicts him is to be mocked by those who reproach him for the evil actions that they commit. Some "thieves," he says, some wicked, some criminals, some robbers have made us the subject of their proposals and conversations.
The Medieval Church2 voices
At the right hand of the East my calamities on the spot arose. They overturned my feet, and oppressed with their footpaths as with waves. For 'calamities' would 'rise to the left,' if at the hand of any persons set without the pale of Religion, and openly denying Christ, she met with the adverse dealings of persecution. But when she undergoes from persons seemingly believers the trial of tormentings, it is as if calamities arose to her at the right hand, because they who are enlisted under Christ's name, assail Christ's name in her.
He next shows that such adversities have been sent to him by God from the fact that they came to him beyond the usual manner of human adversities. He first demonstrates this from the place where the adversities came. For raids usually arise especially in …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Upon my right hand rise the youth,....
It is a great sin to forward the calamity of any, especially of good people. In this they have no helper, nobody to set them on or to countenance them in it, nobody to bear them out or to protect them, but they do it of their own accord; they are fools in other things, but wise enough to do mischief, and need no help in inventing that.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
youth--rather, a (low) brood. To rise on the right hand is to accuse, as that was the position of the accuser in court (Zec 3:1; Ps 109:6). push . . . feet--jostle me out of the way (Job 24:4). ways of--that is, their ways of (that is, with a view to my) destruction.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — starts-lowercase
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
Upon my right hand rise the youth - The right hand is the place of honor, and therefore it was felt to be a greater insult that they should occupy even that place. The word rendered “youth” (פרחח pirchach) occurs nowhere else in the Hebrew Scriptures. It is probably from פרח pârach, “to sprout, germinate, blossom”; and hence, would mean “a progeny,” and would be probably applied to beasts. It is rendered by Jerome, “calamities;” by the Septuagint, “Upon the right hand of the progeny, or brood (βλαστοῦ blastou), they rise,” where Schleusner conjectures that βλαστοι blastoi should be read, “On the right hand rise a brood or progeny.” Umbreit renders it, “eine Brut ... a brood.” So Rosenmuller, Noyes, and Schultens. The idea then is, that this rabble rose up, even on his right hand, as a brood of wild animals - a mere rabble that impeded his way. They push away my feet - Instead of giving place for me, they jostle and crowd me from my path. Once the aged and the honorable rose and stood in my presence, and the youth retired at my coming, but now this worthless rabble crowds along with me, jostles me in my goings, and shows me no manner of respect; compare Job 29:8. And they raise up against me the ways of their destruction - They raise up against me destructive ways, or ways that tend to destroy me. The figure is taken from an advancing army, that casts up ramparts and other means of attack designed for the destruction of a besieged city. They were, in like manner, constantly making advances against Job, and pressing on him in a manner that was designed to destroy him.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On my right on my right, stand “little sprouts” as [with] any other simple person, because I am no longer so esteemed in their sight [that they] subordinate themselves before Me.
1 more on this passage, in their own words ▾
For He untied my bowstring He untied the string of my bow (that I said above that my bow would become stronger); i.e., He weakened my strength—He Who has the power to do so.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
10 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| עַל־ | ʾal- | on | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| יָמִין֮ | yamin | [the] right [side] | H3225 → | 140 times |
| פִּרְחַ֪ח | pirchach | a brood | H6526 → | |
| יָ֫ק֥וּמוּ | yakumu | they arise | H6965 → | 628 times |
| רַגְלַ֥י | raglai | feet my | H7272 → | 247 times |
| שִׁלֵּ֑חוּ | shilechu | they have sent away | H7971 → | 845 times |
| וַיָּסֹ֥לּוּ | vaiyasolu | and they have piled up | H5549 → | |
| עָ֝לַ֗י | ʾalai | on me | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| אָרְח֥וֹת | ʾarechot | [the] paths of | H734 → | 58 times |
| אֵידָֽם׃ | ʾeidam | disaster their | H343 → | 24 times |
עַל־on
ʾal-H5921 →5755 times
יָמִין֮[the] right [side]
yaminH3225 →140 times
פִּרְחַ֪חa brood
pirchachH6526 →
יָ֫ק֥וּמוּthey arise
yakumuH6965 →628 times
רַגְלַ֥יfeet my
raglaiH7272 →247 times
שִׁלֵּ֑חוּthey have sent away
shilechuH7971 →845 times
וַיָּסֹ֥לּוּand they have piled up
vaiyasoluH5549 →
עָ֝לַ֗יon me
ʾalaiH5921 →5755 times
אָרְח֥וֹת[the] paths of
ʾarechotH734 →58 times
אֵידָֽם׃disaster their
ʾeidamH343 →24 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
Job 19:18Even little boys scorn me; when I appear, they deride me.
it leads to
- 2 Kings 2:23
From there, Elisha went up to Bethel, and as he was walking up the road, a group of boys came out of the city and jeered at him, chanting, “Go up, you baldhead! Go…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Job 30:1
“But now they mock me, men younger than I am, whose fathers I would have refused to entrust with my sheep dogs.
- 2 Kings 2:23
Through
Job 19:12His troops advance together; they construct a ramp against me and encamp around my tent.
it leads to
Through
Isaiah 3:5The people will oppress one another, man against man, neighbor against neighbor; the young will rise up against the old, and the base against the honorable.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 9:3–8
“They bend their tongues like bows; lies prevail over truth in the land. For they proceed from evil to evil, and they do not take Me into account,” declares the LORD.
- Malachi 3:5
“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud…
- Matthew 26:67
Then they spit in His face and struck Him. Others slapped Him
- Leviticus 19:32
You are to rise in the presence of the elderly, honor the aged, and fear your God. I am the LORD.
- Jeremiah 9:3–8
About Job
This page draws on 9 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); Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Book of Job; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XX; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON JOB 30:12A-13; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.