Job 30:17
in Job 30Night pierces my bones, and my gnawing pains never rest.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
In the night season my bones are pierced in me, And the pains that gnaw me take no rest.
KJV
My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.
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This verse in Job 30
Commentary
7 notes on this verseIn the night season my bone is pierced with pangs, and they that eat me sleep not. If we mark the history by itself, the case appears plain, because the body of the holy man, through the hollows of ulcers, a swarming multitude of worms was wounding. But if we dive into the mystery of the allegory, what are denoted by 'the bones,' but the strong ones severally in the body of Holy Church? Who, as it were, by their solidity hold together the members, while they bear with stedfastness the practices of those going weakly.
This site's exposition
Night pierces my bones
on Job 30:17-18
“Night pierces my bones, and my gnawing pains never rest” brings the bodily ruin back, the pain working hardest when no daylight distraction masks it. Clarke notes that the disease first named at 2:7 is still the subject many chapters later, still unrelieved.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
So he says, "At night pains tear my bones," as if to say: My pains so increase at night that they seem to reach piercing through my bones. He shows that the cause of his pain was from the rotting of his sores saying, "and …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
My bones are pierced in me in the night season,....
It was a sword in his bones, which pierced him in the night season, when he should have been refreshed with sleep. His nerves were affected with strong convulsions; his sinews took no rest.
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
My bones are pierced in me - The bones are often represented in the Scriptures as the seat of acute pain; Psa 6:2; Psa 22:14; Psa 31:10; Psa 38:3; Psa 42:10; Pro 14:30; compare Job 20:11. The meaning here is, that he had had shooting or piercing pains in the night, which disturbed and prevented his rest. It is mentioned as a special aggravation of his sufferings that they were “in the night” - a time when we expect repose. And my sinews take no rest - See the word here rendered sinews explained in the note at ver.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
In the Hebrew, night is poetically personified, as in Job 3:3: "night pierceth my bones (so that they fall) from me" (not as English Version, "in me"; see Job 30:30). sinews--so the Arabic, "veins," akin to the Hebrew; rather, "gnawers" (see on Job 30:3), namely, my gnawing pains never cease.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לַ֗יְלָה | laylah | night | H3915 → | 233 times |
| עֲ֭צָמַי | ʾatzamai | bones my | H6106 → | 126 times |
| נִקַּ֣ר | nikar | he has pierced | H5365 → | |
| מֵעָלָ֑י | mealai | from on <the> me | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| וְ֝עֹרְקַ֗י | veorekai | and gnawing [pains] my | H6207 → | |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| יִשְׁכָּבֽוּן׃ | yishkavun | they rest ! | H7901 → | 212 times |
לַ֗יְלָהnight
laylahH3915 →233 times
עֲ֭צָמַיbones my
ʾatzamaiH6106 →126 times
נִקַּ֣רhe has pierced
nikarH5365 →
מֵעָלָ֑יfrom on <the> me
mealaiH5921 →5755 times
וְ֝עֹרְקַ֗יand gnawing [pains] my
veorekaiH6207 →
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
יִשְׁכָּבֽוּן׃they rest !
yishkavunH7901 →212 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 22:2I cry out by day, O my God, but You do not answer, and by night, but I have no rest.
it leads to
- Psalms 42:3
My tears have been my food both day and night, while men ask me all day long, “Where is your God?”
- Luke 18:7
Will not God bring about justice for His elect who cry out to Him day and night? Will He continue to defer their help?
- Psalms 55:16–17
But I call to God, and the LORD saves me.
- Luke 22:41–46
And He withdrew about a stone’s throw beyond them, where He knelt down and prayed,
- Psalms 88:1
O LORD, the God of my salvation, day and night I cry out before You.
- Psalms 42:3
Through
Job 7:4When I lie down I think: ‘When will I get up?’ But the night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn.
it leads to
- Deuteronomy 28:67
In the morning you will say, ‘If only it were evening!’ and in the evening you will say, ‘If only it were morning!’—because of the dread in your hearts of the terrifying sights you…
- Job 7:13–14
When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint,
- Deuteronomy 28:67
Through
Isaiah 38:13I composed myself until the morning. Like a lion He breaks all my bones; from day until night You make an end of me.
it leads to
- Daniel 6:24
At the command of the king, the men who had falsely accused Daniel were brought and thrown into the den of lions—they and their children and wives. And before they had reached the bottom…
- Daniel 6:24
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies1
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; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.