Job 30:25
in Job 30Have I not wept for those in trouble? Has my soul not grieved for the needy?
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? Was not my soul grieved for the needy?
KJV
Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?
⋯
This verse in Job 30
Commentary
12 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
Did not I weep ... - Job here appeals to his former life, and says that it had been a characteristic of his life to manifest compassion to the afflicted and the poor. His object in doing this is, evidently, to show how remarkable it was that he was so much afflicted. “Did I deserve,” the sense is, “such a hard lot?
This site's exposition
Yet no one stretches out his hand
on Job 30:24-25
Gill sets out more than one reading of verse 24 without deciding between them. Job asks whether he has not “wept for those in trouble” and “grieved for the needy”, claiming the care for others recorded in chapter 29. Henry notes that the friends never once grant him this.
This site's exposition
Have I not wept for those
Wesley hears a conscience that clears him of hardness toward those in trouble. Henry reports another reading. The man who wept for the needy complains that he now finds no one to help him in his distress.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
After he premised his remarks with his past prosperity (c.29) and subsequent adversity, (vv.1-24) he collects them in a kind of summary saying, "I once wept," in the time of my prosperity, "over him who was afflicted," according to what Scripture says, "Weep with those …
I wept of old over him that was in trouble; my soul suffered with the poor. Though it is true compassion to concur with the suffering of a fellow creature by bountifulness, yet sometimes when the several outward things are abundantly provided for us to bestow, the hand of him that gives finds the act of giving more quickly than the feeling does sorrow.
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
Did not I - Have I now judgment without mercy, because I afforded no mercy to others in misery? No; my conscience acquits me from this inhumanity: I did mourn over others in their miseries.
1 But now they that are younger than I have me in derision, whose fathers I would have disdained to have set with the dogs of my flock. 2 Yea, whereto might the strength of their hands profit me, in whom old age was perished?
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-scripture
): Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? Some think he herein complains of God, thinking it very hard that he who had shown mercy to others should not himself find mercy.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
4 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
Did not I weep for him that was in trouble?....
The Nineteenth Century3 voices
IN ENDEAVORING TO JUSTIFY the ways of God, Job's three friends came to the harsh conclusion that he would not have been so severely afflicted if he had not been a very great sinner. Among other accusations against the afflicted patriarch, Eliphaz the Temanite had the cruelty to lay this at his door, "Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry."
IN ENDEAVORING TO JUSTIFY the ways of God, Job's three friends came to the harsh conclusion that he would not have been so severely afflicted if he had not been a very great sinner. Among other accusations against the afflicted patriarch, Eliphaz the Temanite had the cruelty to lay this at his door, "Thou hast not given water to the weary to drink, and thou hast withholden bread from the hungry." Such a slander we may describe as "speaking wickedly for God," for in his ignorance of the great laws of Providence towards the saints in this life, the Temanite had uttered falsehood in order to account for the divine procedure. God's own testimony of Job is that he was "a perfect and an upright man, one that feared God and eschewed evil;" and certainly he could never have earned the character of "perfect" if he had been devoid of pity for the poor. Richly did the three miserable comforters deserve the burning rebuke of their slandered friend, "Ye are forgers of lies, ye are physicians of no value. O that ye would altogether hold your peace and it shall be your wisdom." Job, in his great indignation at the shameful accusation of unkindness to the needy, pours forth the following very solemn imprecation—"If I have withheld the poor from their desire, or have caused the eyes of the widow to fail; or have eaten my morsel myself alone, and the fatherless hath not eaten thereof; if I have seen any perish for want of clothing, or any poor without covering; if his loins have not blessed me, and if he were not warmed with the fleece of my sheep; if I have lifted up my hand against the fatherless, when I saw my help in the gate: then let mine arm fall from my shoulder blade, and mine arm be broken from the bone." Thus vehemently making a tremendous appeal to heaven, he shakes off the slander into the fire as Paul shook the viper from his hand.
Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? - Mr. Good translates much nearer the sense of the original, לקשה יום liksheh yom. “Should I not then weep for the ruthless day?” May I not lament that my sufferings are only to terminate with my life? Or, Did I not mourn for those who suffered by times of calamity? Was not my soul grieved for the poor? Did I not relieve the distressed according to my power; and did I not sympathize with the sufferer?
The words behind it
8 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| אִם־ | ʾim- | <if>? | H518 → | 1069 times |
| לֹ֣א | lo' | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| בָ֭כִיתִי | vakhiti | did I weep | H1058 → | 114 times |
| לִקְשֵׁה־ | liksheh- | for [the] hard of | H7186 → | |
| י֑וֹם | yom | day | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| עָֽגְמָ֥ה | ʾagemah | was it grieved? | H5701 → | |
| נַ֝פְשִׁ֗י | nafshi | self my | H5315 → | 754 times |
| לָאֶבְיֽוֹן׃ | laevyon | for the needy [person] | H34 → | 61 times |
אִם־<if>?
ʾim-H518 →1069 times
לֹ֣אnot
lo'H3808 →5168 times
בָ֭כִיתִיdid I weep
vakhitiH1058 →114 times
לִקְשֵׁה־for [the] hard of
liksheh-H7186 →
י֑וֹםday
yomH3117 →2304 times
עָֽגְמָ֥הwas it grieved?
ʾagemahH5701 →
נַ֝פְשִׁ֗יself my
nafshiH5315 →754 times
לָאֶבְיֽוֹן׃for the needy [person]
laevyonH34 →61 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
Romans 12:15Rejoice with those who rejoice; weep with those who weep.
it leads to
- 1 Corinthians 12:26
If one part suffers, every part suffers with it; if one part is honored, every part rejoices with it.
- Hebrews 13:3
Remember those in prison as if you were bound with them, and those who are mistreated as if you were suffering with them.
- Psalms 35:13–14
Yet when they were ill, I put on sackcloth; I humbled myself with fasting, but my prayers returned unanswered.
- John 11:33–36
When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews who had come with her also weeping, He was deeply moved in spirit and troubled.
- Luke 1:58
Her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord had shown her great mercy, and they rejoiced with her.
- 1 Corinthians 12:26
Through
Proverbs 17:5He who mocks the poor insults their Maker; whoever gloats over calamity will not go unpunished.
it leads to
- Proverbs 14:31
Whoever oppresses the poor taunts their Maker, but whoever is kind to the needy honors Him.
- Proverbs 14:31
Through
Proverbs 28:8He who increases his wealth by interest and usury lays it up for one who is kind to the poor.
it leads to
- Job 27:16–17
Though he heaps up silver like dust and piles up a wardrobe like clay,
- Proverbs 13:22
A good man leaves an inheritance to his children’s children, but the sinner’s wealth is passed to the righteous.
- Job 27:16–17
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); Charles Spurgeon, The Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Sermon No. 479: “Christian Sympathy” (lightly modernized text, CCEL edition); 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); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.