Job 30:27
in Job 30I am churning within and cannot rest; days of affliction confront me.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
My heart is troubled, and resteth not; Days of affliction are come upon me.
KJV
My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.
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This verse in Job 30
Commentary
9 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
My bowels boiled - Or rather, My bowels boil - for he refers to his present circumstances, and not to the past. It is clear that by this phrase he designs to describe deep affliction. The bowels, in the Scriptures, are represented as the seat of the affections. By this is meant the upper bowels, or the region of the heart and the lungs. The reason is, that deep emotions of the mind are felt there.
This site's exposition
when I hoped for good, evil came
on Job 30:26-28
“But when I hoped for good, evil came”, and “when I looked for light, darkness fell”, restating the reversal that opened the chapter. Behind “I am churning within” stands the Hebrew for boiling bowels, which Delitzsch reads as the inner heat of continual fever.
This site's exposition
I am churning within
Barnes reads churning within as bowels that boil, the seat of feeling in Scripture. Henry says the sufferer counts his affliction by days. Days of affliction confront him without warning, yet days are soon numbered and finished.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
He explains then the evils overcoming him, and he begins with interior evils when he says, "My bones are inflamed without rest." This can refer to the weakness of the interior powers coming from too much heat, and also to the affliction of the heart …
My bowels boiled, and rested not. The days of affliction prevented me. Since for 'the bowels' of Holy Church 'to boil' is for her to endure in the fierceness of persecution, these very persons too, whom she had before in the love of the faith carried as 'bowels.'
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
): " The days of affliction prevented me, " that is, "they came upon me without giving me any previous warning. I did not expect them, nor make any provision for such an evil day." Observe, He reckons his affliction by days, which will soon be numbered and finished, and are nothing to the ages of eternity, 2 Cor. iv. (2.) He was in great sorrow by reason of it.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — leading-punctuation+unbalanced-parens
My bowels boiled, and rested not,....
The sense of his calamities was continually preying upon his spirits without any intermission. He went mourning from day to day, always sighing, always weeping; and such cloud was constantly upon his mind that he went, in effect, without the sun,
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
My bowels boiled - This alludes to the strong commotion in the bowels which every humane person feels at the sight of one in misery.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מֵעַ֖י | meai | inward parts my | H4578 → | |
| רֻתְּח֥וּ | rutechu | they have been made to boil | H7570 → | |
| וְלֹא־ | velo'- | and not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| דָ֗מּוּ | damu | they have been still | H1826 → | 30 times |
| קִדְּמֻ֥נִי | kidemuni | they have confronted me | H6923 → | 26 times |
| יְמֵי־ | yemei- | days of | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| עֹֽנִי׃ | ʾoni | affliction | H6040 → | 36 times |
מֵעַ֖יinward parts my
meaiH4578 →
רֻתְּח֥וּthey have been made to boil
rutechuH7570 →
וְלֹא־and not
velo'-H3808 →5168 times
דָ֗מּוּthey have been still
damuH1826 →30 times
קִדְּמֻ֥נִיthey have confronted me
kidemuniH6923 →26 times
יְמֵי־days of
yemei-H3117 →2304 times
עֹֽנִי׃affliction
ʾoniH6040 →36 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
Jeremiah 4:19My anguish, my anguish! I writhe in pain! Oh, the pain in my chest! My heart pounds within me; I cannot be silent. For I have heard the sound of the horn, the alarm…
it leads to
- Isaiah 16:11
Therefore my heart laments for Moab like a harp, my inmost being for Kir-heres.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Habakkuk 3:16
I heard and trembled within; my lips quivered at the sound. Decay entered my bones; I trembled where I stood. Yet I must wait patiently for the day of distress to come upon the…
- Isaiah 16:11
Through
Psalms 22:4In You our fathers trusted; they trusted and You delivered them.
it leads to
- Exodus 14:31
When Israel saw the great power that the LORD had exercised over the Egyptians, the people feared the LORD and believed in Him and in His servant Moses.
- Exodus 14:13–14
But Moses told the people, “Do not be afraid. Stand firm and you will see the LORD’s salvation, which He will accomplish for you today; for the Egyptians you see today, you will never…
- Exodus 14:31
Through
Jeremiah 31:20Is not Ephraim a precious son to Me, a delightful child? Though I often speak against him, I still remember him. Therefore My heart yearns for him; I have great compassion for him,” declares…
it leads to
- Isaiah 55:7
Let the wicked man forsake his own way and the unrighteous man his own thoughts; let him return to the LORD, that He may have compassion, and to our God, for He will freely…
- Micah 7:18–19
Who is a God like You, who pardons iniquity and passes over the transgression of the remnant of His inheritance—who does not retain His anger forever, because He delights in loving devotion?
- Psalms 103:13
As a father has compassion on his children, so the LORD has compassion on those who fear Him.
- Isaiah 55:7
Through
Lamentations 2:11My eyes fail from weeping; I am churning within. My heart is poured out in grief over the destruction of the daughter of my people, because children and infants faint in the streets of…
it leads to
- Lamentations 1:20
See, O LORD, how distressed I am! I am churning within; my heart is pounding within me, for I have been most rebellious. Outside, the sword bereaves; inside, there is death.
- Lamentations 1:20
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 (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.
