Job 30:15
in Job 30Terrors are turned loose against me; they drive away my dignity as by the wind, and my prosperity has passed like a cloud.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Terrors are turned upon me; They chase mine honor as the wind; And my welfare is passed away as a cloud.
KJV
Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud.
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This verse in Job 30
Commentary
7 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Terrors are turned upon me - As if they were all turned upon him, or made to converge toward him. Everything suited to produce terror seemed to have a direction given it toward him. Umbreit, and some others, however, suppose that God is here referred to, and that the meaning is,” God is turned against me terrors drive as a storm against me.” The Hebrew will bear either construction; but it is more emphatic and impressive to suppose it means that everything adapted to produce terror seemed to be turned against him.
This site's exposition
Terrors are turned loose against me
on Job 30:15-16
“Terrors are turned loose against me” pictures fear as an active hunter. “And now my soul is poured out within me” describes grief as a liquid no vessel can hold. Gill reads the verb as the language of lament poured out in the Psalms, with Job's soul the thing emptied.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
Third, he shows that adversities of this kind are sent by God from their effect, because he had been left totally destitute by them; and so he says, "I have been reduced to nothing," because nothing remained for him from his former prosperity. This consisted …
I was reduced to nought. As the wind thou didst take away my desire. And as a cloud my health hath passed away. For in the reckoning of the wicked we are 'brought to nought,' when those temporal goods, which they themselves love as chief, we do not retain in our bands.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And still, which way soever he looked, they turned upon him; which way soever he fled, they pursued him. My soul (Heb., my principal one, my princess ); the soul is the principal part of the man; it is our glory; it is every way more excellent than the body, and therefore that which pursues the soul, and threatens that, should be most dreaded.
Terrors are turned upon me,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
Terrors are turned upon me - Defence is no longer useful; they have beat down my walls. They pursue my soul as the wind - I seek safety in flight, my strong holds being no longer tenable; but they pursue me so swiftly, that it is impossible for me to escape. They follow me like a whirlwind; and as fast as that drives away the clouds before it, so is my prosperity destroyed. The word נדבתי nedibathi, which we translate my soul, signifies properly my nobility, my excellence: they endeavor to destroy both my reputation and my property.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
On the verses either side of this one
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
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| הָהְפַּ֥ךְ | hahepakh | it has been turned | H2015 → | 94 times |
| עָלַ֗י | ʾalai | on me | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| בַּלָּ֫ה֥וֹת | balahot | sudden terror<s> | H1091 → | 10 times |
| תִּרְדֹּ֣ף | tirdof | it pursues | H7291 → | 143 times |
| כָּ֭רוּחַ | karuach | like the wind | H7307 → | 378 times |
| נְדִבָתִ֑י | nedivati | dignity my | H5082 → | |
| וּ֝כְעָ֗ב | ukheav | and like a cloud | H5645 → | 31 times |
| עָבְרָ֥ה | ʾaverah | it has passed away | H5674 → | 556 times |
| יְשֻׁעָתִֽי׃ | yeshuati | prosperity my | H3444 → |
הָהְפַּ֥ךְit has been turned
hahepakhH2015 →94 times
עָלַ֗יon me
ʾalaiH5921 →5755 times
בַּלָּ֫ה֥וֹתsudden terror<s>
balahotH1091 →10 times
תִּרְדֹּ֣ףit pursues
tirdofH7291 →143 times
כָּ֭רוּחַlike the wind
karuachH7307 →378 times
נְדִבָתִ֑יdignity my
nedivatiH5082 →
וּ֝כְעָ֗בand like a cloud
ukheavH5645 →31 times
עָבְרָ֥הit has passed away
ʾaverahH5674 →556 times
יְשֻׁעָתִֽי׃prosperity my
yeshuatiH3444 →
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 6:4For the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks in their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
it leads to
- Psalms 38:2
For Your arrows have pierced me deeply, and Your hand has pressed down on me.
- Psalms 88:15–16
From my youth I was afflicted and near death. I have borne Your terrors; I am in despair.
- Psalms 38:2
Through
Psalms 88:15From my youth I was afflicted and near death. I have borne Your terrors; I am in despair.
it leads to
- Job 6:4
For the arrows of the Almighty have pierced me; my spirit drinks in their poison; the terrors of God are arrayed against me.
- Job 6:4
Through
Hosea 13:3Therefore they will be like the morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes, like chaff blown from a threshing floor, like smoke through an open window.
it leads to
- Psalms 1:4
Not so the wicked! For they are like chaff driven off by the wind.
- Psalms 68:2
As smoke is blown away, You will drive them out; as wax melts before the fire, the wicked will perish in the presence of God.
- Hosea 6:4
What shall I do with you, O Ephraim? What shall I do with you, O Judah? For your loyalty is like a morning mist, like the early dew that vanishes.
- Psalms 1:4
Through
Job 31:23For calamity from God terrifies me, and His splendor I cannot overpower.
it leads to
- Job 13:11
Would His majesty not terrify you? Would the dread of Him not fall upon you?
- Psalms 119:120
My flesh trembles in awe of You; I stand in fear of Your judgments.
- Job 13:11
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 Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.