Job 30:18
in Job 30With great force He grasps my garment; He seizes me by the collar of my tunic.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
By God’s great force is my garment disfigured; It bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
KJV
By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat.
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This verse in Job 30
Commentary
9 notes on this verseIs my garment changed - There seem to be here plain allusions to the effect of his cruel disease; the whole body being enveloped with a kind of elephantine hide, formed by innumerable incrustations from the ulcerated surface. It bindeth me about - There is now a new kind of covering to my body, formed by the effects of this disease; and it is not a garment which I can cast off; it is as closely attached to me as the collar of my coat.
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.
This site's exposition
the collar of my tunic
Older versions add a word for disease, Barnes observes, which the Hebrew lacks. In the Berean, He is God, who grasps the garment with great force. Henry mentions a swelling that bound the throat like a collar.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
In the multitude of them is my garment consumed, and they have bound me about as with the collar of my coat. If we give heed to the history, what else do we take 'the garment' of blessed Job for, but his body? whose 'garment indeed is consumed' when the flesh is put to torment. But according to the mystery of allegory, 'the garment' of Holy Church is the life of the faithful.
He shows their great number saying, "My clothing is consumed by their great numbers," as if to say: The multitude of the worms is so great that they not only eat my flesh, but also gnaw his clothing. To show that they are diffused not …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
It would be noisome to describe what a condition poor Job was in for want of clean linen and good attendance, and what filthy rags all his clothes were. Some think that, among other diseases, Job was ill of a quinsy or swelling in his throat, and that it was this which bound him about like a stiff collar.
By the great force of my disease is my garment changed,....
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Joh 3:6) and metaphorically [UMBREIT]. Or rather, as SCHUTTENS, following up Job 30:17, My outer garment is changed into affliction; that is, affliction has become my outer garment; it also bindeth me fast round (my throat) as the collar of the inner coat; that is, it is both my inner and outer garment.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
By the great force of my disease - The words “of my disease” are not in the Hebrew. The usual interpretation of the passage is, that in consequence of the foul and offensive nature of his malady, his garment had become discolored or defiled - changed from being white and clear to filthiness and offensiveness. Some have understood it as referring to the skin, and as denoting that it was so affected with the leprosy, that he could scarcely be recognized. Umbreit supposes it to mean, “Through the omnipotence of God has my white robe of honor been changed into a narrow garment of grief” - trauerkleid. Dr. Good renders it, “From the abundance of the acrimony;” that is, of the fierce or acrimonious humor, “it is changed into a garment for me.” Coverdale, “With all their power have they changed my garment, and girded me therewith, as it were with a coat.” Prof. Lee, “With much violence doth my clothing bind me.” According to Schultens, it means, “My affliction puts itself on in the form of my clothing;” and the whole passage, that without and within, from the head to the feet, he was entirely diseased. His affliction was his outer garment, and it was his inner garment - his mantle and his tunic. The Hebrew is difficult. The phrase rendered “by the great force,” means, literally, “by the multitude of strength” - and may refer to the strength of disease, or to the strength of God, or to the force with which his garment girded him. The word rendered “is changed” - יתחפשׂ yitchâphaś, is from חפשׂ châphaś, to seek, to search after in the Qal; in the Hithpael, the form used here, to let oneself be sought; to hide oneself; to disguise one’s self; 1Ki 20:38. According to this, it would mean that his garment was disquised; that is, its appearance was changed by the force of his disease. Gesenius. […]
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| בְּרָב־ | berov- | with greatness of | H7227 → | 454 times |
| כֹּ֭חַ | koach | strength | H3581 → | 126 times |
| יִתְחַפֵּ֣שׂ | yitchapes | it disguises itself | H2664 → | |
| לְבוּשִׁ֑י | levushi | clothing my | H3830 → | 33 times |
| כְּפִ֖י | kefi | like [the] mouth of | H6310 → | 498 times |
| כֻתָּנְתִּ֣י | khutaneti | tunic my | H3801 → | |
| יַֽאַזְרֵֽנִי׃ | yaazreni | he girds about me | H247 → | 16 times |
בְּרָב־with greatness of
berov-H7227 →454 times
כֹּ֭חַstrength
koachH3581 →126 times
יִתְחַפֵּ֣שׂit disguises itself
yitchapesH2664 →
לְבוּשִׁ֑יclothing my
levushiH3830 →33 times
כְּפִ֖יlike [the] mouth of
kefiH6310 →498 times
כֻתָּנְתִּ֣יtunic my
khutanetiH3801 →
יַֽאַזְרֵֽנִי׃he girds about me
yaazreniH247 →16 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 2:7So Satan went out from the presence of the LORD and infected Job with terrible boils from the soles of his feet to the crown of his head.
it leads to
- Isaiah 1:6
From the sole of your foot to the top of your head, there is no soundness—only wounds and welts and festering sores neither cleansed nor bandaged nor soothed with oil.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Deuteronomy 28:35
The LORD will afflict you with painful, incurable boils on your knees and thighs, from the soles of your feet to the top of your head.
- Job 30:30
My skin grows black and peels, and my bones burn with fever.
- Isaiah 1:6
Through
Job 19:20My skin and flesh cling to my bones; I have escaped by the skin of my teeth.
it leads to
- Psalms 102:5
Through my loud groaning my flesh clings to my bones.
- Lamentations 4:8
But now their appearance is blacker than soot; they are not recognized in the streets. Their skin has shriveled on their bones; it has become as dry as a stick.
- Psalms 102:5
Through
Job 7:5My flesh is clothed with worms and encrusted with dirt; my skin is cracked and festering.
it leads to
- Isaiah 14:11
Your pomp has been brought down to Sheol, along with the music of your harps. Maggots are your bed and worms your blanket.
- Job 17:14
and say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
- Isaiah 14:11
Through
Psalms 38:5My wounds are foul and festering because of my sinful folly.
it leads to
- Isaiah 1:5–6
Why do you want more beatings? Why do you keep rebelling? Your head has a massive wound, and your whole heart is afflicted.
- Isaiah 1:5–6
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.