Job 30:14

Job 30:14 They came [upon me] as a wide breaking in [of waters]: in the desolation they rolled themselves [upon me].

Ver. 14. They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters] Quasi irruptione lata invadunt me. As soldiers when they have made a breach in a wall, come tumbling in upon the town, and sack and ransack it, yea, raze it, and harass it; so have these dealt with me.

They rolled themselves upon me] Labouring wholly to suppress me, Gen 43:18. Taking occasion by this my downfall, which they ought rather to have lamented and pitied, they unmercifully fell upon me, as if they themselves had lived out of the reach of God’s rod.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Job 30:14. They came as a wide breaking in of waters — As fiercely and violently as a river doth when a great breach is made in the bank which kept it in. Hebrew, כפרצ רחב, cheperetz rachab, as at a wide breach, as a besieging army, having made a breach in the walls of the city, do suddenly and forcibly rush into it. The word waters, the reader will observe, is not in the Hebrew. In the desolation they rolled themselves upon me — As the waters or soldiers come tumbling in at the breach, they poured themselves upon me, that they might utterly destroy and make me desolate.

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

By my calamity they took an occasion against me.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

waters--(So Sa2 5:20). But it is better to retain the image of Job 30:12-13. "They came [upon me] as through a wide breach," namely, made by the besiegers in the wall of a fortress (Isa 30:13) [MAURER].

in the desolation--"Amidst the crash" of falling masonry, or "with a shout like the crash" of, &c.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 14. They came upon me as a wide breaking in] They storm me on every side.

In the desolation they rolled themselves] When they had made the breach, they rolled in upon me as an irresistible torrent. There still appears to be an allusion to a besieged city: the sap, the breach, the storm, the flight, the pursuit, and the slaughter. See the following verse.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(14) As a wide breaking in of waters.—Or, as through a wide breach they come. “In the midst of the crash they roll themselves upon me;” or, “instead of a tempest” (i.e., like a tempest) “they roll themselves upon me.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

14. The verse reads,

They come in as through a wide breach,

Amidst the crash they roll themselves upon me.

The figure is that of a stormed fastness. The “crash” is that of the falling walls.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters,.... As when a wide breach is made in the banks of a river, or of the sea, the waters rush through in great abundance, with great rapidity and swiftness; and with a force irresistible; and in like manner did Job's enemies rush in upon him in great numbers, overwhelming him in an instant, and he not able to oppose them; or as, when a wide breach is made in the wall of a city besieged, the besiegers pour themselves in, and bear down all before them: and thus Job in a like violent manner was run upon, and bore down by the persons before described:

in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me; as when a breach is made in a bank of a river, or of the sea, the waters roll themselves, one wave and flood over another; or, as when a breach is made in a wall, "in the broken place they tumble"; as Mr. Broughton renders it; the soldiers tumble one over another in haste, to get possession and seize the plunder: in such like manner did Job's enemies roll themselves on him, in order to crush and destroy him; and it may be rendered, "because of the desolation" (r), because of bringing calamity on him in order to make him desolate; they came pouring in upon him with all their numbers, force, and strength, to bear him down, and crush him to the earth, as grass may be rolled upon, and beaten down by heavy bodies.

(r) "pro desolatione", Pagninus, Montanus; "propter vestalionem", Noldius, p. 3. No. 1864.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

They came upon me as a wide breaking-in of waters - The Hebrew here is simply, “Like a wide breach they came,” and the reference may be, not to an inundation, as our translators supposed, but to an irruption made by a foe through a breach made in a wall. When such a wall fell, or when a breach was made in it, the besieging army would pour in in a tumultuous manner, and cut down all before them; compare Isa 30:13. This seems to be the idea here. The enemies of Job poured in upon him as if a breach was made in a wall. Formerly they were restrained by his rank and office, as a besieging army was by lofty walls; but now all these restraints were broken down, and they poured in upon him like a tumultuous army.

In the desolation they rolled themselves upon me - Among the ruins they rolled tumultuous along; or they came pitching and tumbling in with the ruins of the wall. The image is taken from the act of sacking a city, where the besieging army, having made a breach in the wall, would seem to come tumbling into the heart of the city with the ruins of the wall. No time would be wasted, but they would follow suddenly and tumultuously upon the breach, and roll tumultuously along. The Chaldee renders this as if it referred to the rolling and tumultuous waves of the sea, and the Hebrew would admit of such a construction, but the above seems better to accord with the image which Job would be likely to use.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Down, (devoluti sunt.) They have proceeded to aggravate my misfortunes. (Haydock) --- "They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.["] (Protestants)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

As a wide breaking in of waters; as fiercely and violently as a river doth when a great breach is made in the bank which kept it in. Heb. as at a wide breach; as a besieging army, having made a breach in the walls of the city, do suddenly and forcibly rush into it. In the desolation; or, for or instead of a desolation, i.e. that they might utterly destroy me, and make me desolate. Or, in the waste place, i. e. in that part of the bank or wall which was wasted or broken down.

They rolled themselves upon me; as the waters or soldiers come rolling or tumbling in at the breach.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

14. A wide breaking in — A wide breach. See “breach upon breach,” Job_16:14. By a figure common in the Scriptures, (like that of “cup” for its contents,) breach stands for the inrushing soldiers.

In the desolation — Literally, Beneath the crash they roll on. (Delitzsch.) A vivid description of the storming of a fortress: the walls crash as the infuriated soldiery rush through the breach. Hitzig agrees with the English version except in the second clause, which he renders “like a plunging stream they roll on.”

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters; i.e. with a force like that of water when it has burst through a bank or dam. In the desolation they relied themselves upon me. Like the waves of the sea, which follow one after another.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Waste place - In the waste place; in that part of the bank which was broken down. They rolled - As the waters, come rolling in at the breach.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

Connecting Statement:

Job continues to speak about the people who were mocking him.

General Information:

Job speaks about the mockers treating him cruelly as if they were an army attacking him. (See: Metaphor)

They come against me like an army through a wide hole in a city wall

This represents attacking Job forcefully. (See: Simile)

they roll themselves in on me

This represents many coming to attack him at once, like giant ocean waves rolling in on him. (See: Metaphor)

Terrors are turned upon me

Possible meanings are 1) Job has become terrified or 2) things are happening to Job that make him afraid. (See: Metaphor)

my honor is driven away as if by the wind

Job speaks of suddenly having no honor as if the wind had blown it from him. AT: "Nobody honors me" or "I am now a person that people do not honor" (See: Simile)

my prosperity passes away as a cloud

Job speaks of his prosperity ending as if it were a cloud that was blown away. Here "prosperity" may refer to well-being or safety. AT: "I no longer prosper at all" or "I am no longer safe" (See: Simile)

translationWords

terror

honor

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

As [through] a wide breach in a fence, through which everyone comes and passes through, so they come together against me to embarrass me.

under darkness they roll i.e., they come rolling along in secret until they reach me, to provoke me, so that I should not be able to escape from them.

Rashi on the Tanakh — English translations: “The Judaica Press complete Tanach with Rashi, translated by A. J. Rosenberg” (CC BY 4.0); “Pentateuch with Rashi's commentary by M. Rosenbaum and A.M. Silbermann, 1929-1934” (public domain); “The Metsudah Tanach series, Lakewood, N.J” (CC BY 4.0); and “The Book of Joshua, Metsudah Publications, 1997” (CC BY 4.0). Text via Sefaria.