Job 30:9
in Job 30And now they mock me in song; I have become a byword among them.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And now I am become their song, Yea, I am a byword unto them.
KJV
And now am I their song, yea, I am their byword.
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This verse in Job 30
Commentary
8 notes on this verseA commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
And now am I their song - See Job 17:6; compare Psa 69:12, “I was the song of the drunkards;” Lam 3:14, “I was a derision to all my people, and their song all the day.” The sense is, that they made Job and his calamities the subject of low jesting, and treated him with contempt. His name and sufferings would be introduced into their scurrilous songs to give them pith and point, and to show how much they despised him now. Yea, I am their by-word - See the notes at Job 17:6.
This site's exposition
They cried out among the shrubs
on Job 30:7-9
Barnes reads the Hebrew verb behind “cried out among the shrubs” as the braying of animals. “A senseless and nameless brood” names men without lineage, who were “driven off the land”. “And now they mock me in song; I have become a byword among them” completes the reversal.
This site's exposition
they mock me in song
The men who mock him in song are the sons of the nameless brood of Job 30:8. Barnes hears Psalm 69:12, where a sufferer becomes the song of drunkards. Now even the lowest have a byword for him.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church2 voices
As a consequence he shows what Job had suffered from them, and first he shows that he was derided by them by mouth both in their jokes, so he says, "Now I have been turned into a verse in their songs," because they made up …
And now am I their song, yea, I am become their byword. By which same words that time of Holy Church is set forth, when she is openly derided by the lost; when the wicked gaining ground, faith shall be for a reproach, and truth shall be for a ground of accusation. For so much the more contemptible shall each individual be in proportion as he may be more righteous; and the worse object of abhorrence, the more worthy object of praise.
The Puritans and the Awakening1 voice
And now am I their song,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Strikingly similar to the derision Jesus Christ underwent (La 3:14; Here Job returns to the sentiment in Job 30:1. It is to such I am become a song of "derision."
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
Now am I their song - I am the subject of their mirth, and serve as a proverb or by-word. They use me with every species of indignity.
The words behind it
6 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְ֭עַתָּה | veatah | and now | H6258 → | 433 times |
| נְגִינָתָ֣ם | neginatam | taunt song their | H5058 → | |
| הָיִ֑יתִי | hayiti | I have become | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| וָאֱהִ֖י | vaehi | and I have become | H1961 → | 3559 times |
| לָהֶ֣ם | lahem | for them | ||
| לְמִלָּֽה׃ | lemilah | <into> a word | H4405 → | 38 times |
וְ֭עַתָּהand now
veatahH6258 →433 times
נְגִינָתָ֣םtaunt song their
neginatamH5058 →
הָיִ֑יתִיI have become
hayitiH1961 →3559 times
וָאֱהִ֖יand I have become
vaehiH1961 →3559 times
לָהֶ֣םfor them
lahem
לְמִלָּֽה׃<into> a word
lemilahH4405 →38 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
Lamentations 3:63When they sit and when they rise, see how they mock me in song.
it leads to
- Psalms 139:2
You know when I sit and when I rise; You understand my thoughts from afar.
- Lamentations 3:14
I am a laughingstock to all my people; they mock me in song all day long.
- Psalms 139:2
Through
Lamentations 3:14I am a laughingstock to all my people; they mock me in song all day long.
it leads to
- Jeremiah 20:7
You have deceived me, O LORD, and I was deceived. You have overcome me and prevailed. I am a laughingstock all day long; everyone mocks me.
- Jeremiah 20:7
Through
Job 17:6He has made me a byword among the people, a man in whose face they spit.
it leads to
- Psalms 44:14
You have made us a byword among the nations, a laughingstock among the peoples.
- Psalms 44:14
Through
Job 12:4I am a laughingstock to my friends, though I called on God, and He answered. The righteous and upright man is a laughingstock.
it leads to
- Job 30:1
“But now they mock me, men younger than I am, whose fathers I would have refused to entrust with my sheep dogs.
- Job 21:3
Bear with me while I speak; then, after I have spoken, you may go on mocking.
- Psalms 91:15
When he calls out to Me, I will answer him; I will be with him in trouble. I will deliver him and honor him.
- Job 17:6
He has made me a byword among the people, a man in whose face they spit.
- Job 30:1
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); Albert Barnes, Notes 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.