Job 30:13
in Job 30They tear up my path; they profit from my destruction, with no one to restrain them.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
They mar my path, They set forward my calamity, Even men that have no helper.
KJV
They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.
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This verse in Job 30
Commentary
8 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
They mar my path - They break up all my plans. Perhaps here, also, the image is taken from war, and Job may represent himself as on a line of march, and he says that this rabble comes and breaks up his path altogether. They break down the bridges, and tear up the way, so that it is impossible to pass along. His plans of life were embarrassed by them, and they were to him a perpetual annoyance.
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”.
This site's exposition
They tear up my path
Barnes takes the image from war. They tear up the path before him, and they profit from his destruction like a rabble on a road of march. Clarke pictures a siege, with no one to restrain the enemy.
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
Since his feet (his faculties) have been ruined, the consequence is that his progress is also impeded, and so here the text continues, "They have demolished my routes," all the progress of my works. Further they also crushed me in person with deceit, which he …
They did away with my paths, they plotted against me, and prevailed, and there was not any to bring help. Let blessed Job tell these things of evil spirits, i.e. of secret enemies. Let the Church Universal speak them of bad men persecuting, i.e. of open adversaries. For these 'do away with her paths,' when in the souls of certain weak ones they interrupt the ways of truth by crafty persuading.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
They mar my path,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
They mar my path - They destroy the way-marks, so that there is no safety in travelling through the deserts, the guide-posts and way-marks being gone. These may be an allusion here to a besieged city: the besiegers strive by every means and way to distress the besieged; stopping up the fountains, breaking up the road, raising up towers to project arrows and stones into the city, called here raising up against it the ways of destruction, Job 30:12; preventing all succor and support. They have no helper - “There is not an adviser among them.” - Mr. Good. There is none to give them better instruction.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
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 ▾
As [through] a wide breach in a fence, through which everyone comes and passes through, so they come together against me to embarrass me.
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
7 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| נָתְס֗וּ | natesu | they have torn down | H5420 → | |
| נְֽתִיבָ֫תִ֥י | netivati | pathway my | H5410 → | 26 times |
| לְהַוָּתִ֥י | lehavati | to destruction my | H1942 → | 16 times |
| יֹעִ֑ילוּ | yoilu | they benefit | H3276 → | 23 times |
| לֹ֖א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| עֹזֵ֣ר | ʾozer | a helper | H5826 → | 81 times |
| לָֽמוֹ׃ | lamo | [belongs] to them |
נָתְס֗וּthey have torn down
natesuH5420 →
נְֽתִיבָ֫תִ֥יpathway my
netivatiH5410 →26 times
לְהַוָּתִ֥יto destruction my
lehavatiH1942 →16 times
יֹעִ֑ילוּthey benefit
yoiluH3276 →23 times
לֹ֖אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
עֹזֵ֣רa helper
ʾozerH5826 →81 times
לָֽמוֹ׃[belongs] to them
lamo
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 69:26For they persecute the one You struck and recount the pain of those You wounded.
it leads to
- Isaiah 53:4
Surely He took on our infirmities and carried our sorrows; yet we considered Him stricken by God, struck down and afflicted.
- Zechariah 1:15
but I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease. For I was a little angry, but they have added to the calamity.’
- Mark 15:27–32
Along with Jesus, they crucified two robbers, one on His right and one on His left.
- Isaiah 53:4
Through
Isaiah 3:12Youths oppress My people, and women rule over them. O My people, your guides mislead you; they turn you from your paths.
it leads to
- Isaiah 3:4
“I will make mere lads their leaders, and children will rule over them.”
- Nahum 3:13
Look at your troops—they are like your women! The gates of your land are wide open to your enemies; fire consumes their bars.
- Isaiah 3:4
Through
Zechariah 1:15but I am fiercely angry with the nations that are at ease. For I was a little angry, but they have added to the calamity.’
it leads to
- Jeremiah 51:24
Before your very eyes I will repay Babylon and all the dwellers of Chaldea for all the evil they have done in Zion,” declares the LORD.
- Ezekiel 25:12–17
This is what the Lord GOD says: ‘Because Edom acted vengefully against the house of Judah, and in so doing incurred grievous guilt,
- Isaiah 54:8
In a surge of anger I hid My face from you for a moment, but with everlasting kindness I will have compassion on you,” says the LORD your Redeemer.
- Jeremiah 51:24
About Job
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; 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.