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Job 30:29

in Job 30

I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of ostriches.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

I am a brother to jackals, And a companion to ostriches.

KJV

I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.

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This verse in Job 30

Commentary

8 notes on this verse
I was a brother to dragons, and a companion to ostriches. The term 'dragons' is used to denote the cruel spirits who plot our destruction, or those persons who in the Holy Church imitate those spirits by living corruptly. The ostrich has wings and cannot fly, for it shows as it were the appearance of flight but never mounts upward into the air. Thus all hypocrites are like ostriches, who while they pretend holiness, never practice the reality of holiness.

This site's exposition

I have become a brother of jackals

on Job 30:29-31

“I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of ostriches” names creatures of the waste as Job's nearest kin. Gill reads the Hebrew tannim as the jackals of the wilderness. Clarke reads “My skin grows black and peels” as the visible advance of the disease.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

John Chrysostom

COMMENTARY ON JOB 30:26-29 · Written before 407.

proposed

I have fallen, he says, into the animal condition of birds. I have not recognized my real nature anymore; my situation is not better than theirs.

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Thomas Aquinas

Commentary on Job · Written before 1274.

proposed

These came partly from the lack of friends about whom he continues, "I was the brother of snakes," because those who should have loved me as a brother, bit me like snakes, "and the companion of ostriches," who usually forget even their own offspring. (39:15) …

The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice

I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.

The Nineteenth Century2 voices

I am a brother to dragons - That is, my loud complaints and cries resemble the doleful screams of wild animals, or of the most frightful monsters. The word “brother” is often used in this sense, to denote similarity in any respect. The word “dragons” here (תנין tannı̂yn), denotes properly a sea-monster, a great fish, a crocodile; or the fancied animal with wings called a dragon; see the notes at Isa 13:

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

"Dragon," Hebrew, tannim, usually means the crocodile; so perhaps here, its open jaws lifted towards heaven, and its noise making it seem as if it mourned over its fate [BOCHART].
1 more voice on this verse

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

proposed

I am a brother to dragons - By my mournful and continual cry I resemble תנים tannim, the jackals or hyenas. And a companion to owls - בנות יענה benoth yaanah, to the daughters of howling: generally understood to be the ostrich; for both the jackal and the female ostrich are remarkable for their mournful cry, and for their attachment to desolate places - Dodd.

The words behind it

6 Hebrew words

Every 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.

  • אָ֭חa brother

    ʾachH251 →630 times

  • הָיִ֣יתִיI have become

    hayitiH1961 →3559 times

  • לְתַנִּ֑יםof jackals

    letanimH8577 →

  • וְ֝רֵ֗עַand a companion

    verea'H7453 →188 times

  • לִבְנ֥וֹתof daughters of

    livnotH1323 →588 times

  • יַעֲנָֽה׃an ostrich

    yaanahH3284 →

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

10 in all, six open

The number beside each verse is how many compiled reference works tie it to this one. The strongest six stand open.

Micah 1:8Because of this I will lament and wail; I will walk barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and mourn like an ostrich.7 worksIsaiah 38:14I chirp like a swallow or crane; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak as I look upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security.”7 worksPsalms 102:6I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins.5 worksPsalms 44:19But You have crushed us in the lair of jackals; You have covered us with deepest darkness.3 worksJob 17:14and say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’2 worksMalachi 1:3but Esau I have hated, and I have made his mountains a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”2 works
The other 4 cross-references, with their words ▾
Deuteronomy 14:15the ostrich, the screech owl, the gull, any kind of hawk,2 worksJob 39:13The wings of the ostrich flap joyfully, but cannot match the pinions and feathers of the stork.2 worksIsaiah 13:21–22But desert creatures will lie down there, and howling creatures will fill her houses. Ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will leap about.1 worksProverbs 18:9Whoever is slothful in his work is brother to him who destroys.1 works

The walk

8 stops

Each 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 44:19

    But You have crushed us in the lair of jackals; You have covered us with deepest darkness.

    it leads to

    • Psalms 23:4

      Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for You are with me; Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

    • Job 3:5

      May darkness and gloom reclaim it, and a cloud settle over it; may the blackness of the day overwhelm it.

  • Through

    Psalms 102:6

    I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins.

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 38:14

      I chirp like a swallow or crane; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak as I look upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security.”

    • Zephaniah 2:14

      Herds will lie down in her midst, creatures of every kind. Both the desert owl and screech owl will roost atop her pillars. Their calls will sound from the window, but desolation will lie…

  • Through

    Malachi 1:3

    but Esau I have hated, and I have made his mountains a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”

    it leads to

    • Joel 3:19

      Egypt will become desolate, and Edom a desert wasteland, because of the violence done to the people of Judah, in whose land they shed innocent blood.

    • Obadiah 1:10

      Because of the violence against your brother Jacob, you will be covered with shame and cut off forever.

  • Through

    Micah 1:8

    Because of this I will lament and wail; I will walk barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and mourn like an ostrich.

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 22:4

      Therefore I said, “Turn away from me, let me weep bitterly! Do not try to console me over the destruction of the daughter of my people.”

    • Isaiah 20:2–4

      the LORD had already spoken through Isaiah son of Amoz, saying, “Go, remove the sackcloth from your waist and the sandals from your feet.” And Isaiah did so, walking around naked and barefoot.

About Job

Job Hears of His Misfortunes, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Job Hears of His Misfortunes, Gustave Doré, 1866. Public domain.
Job: the study guide →Read Job 30 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XX; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Chrysostom, COMMENTARY ON JOB 30:26-29; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.

Read on in Job 30 →