Job 30:20

Job 30:20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me [not].

Ver. 20. I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me] This was a sore trial, that God should cast him into straits, and there leave him. His enemies indeed he usually dealeth so by, Eze 22:20; Eze 29:5, but not by his servants, Heb 13:5. Or if he do leave them, yet he will not forsake them. The mother leaves her child sometimes, but when he setteth up his note and crieth lustily, she hasteneth to help him. So doth God: but now Job cried unto him, and was not heard or answered, to his thinking at least, and that was a great cut to him, as Psa 22:2.

I stand up] sc. To make supplication to my judge, as Haman stood up to make request for his life, Est 7:7, as the publican stood and prayed, Luk 18:13, and as Moses and Samuel are supposed to stand before God in prayer for their people, Jer 15:1. Hence that proverb among the Jews, Absque stationibus, non staret mundus, Did not the saints stand in prayer, the world could not stand.

And thou regardest me not] This was but a mistake in Job, for the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayers. Only God answereth our prayer, non secundum voluntatem, tamen ad utilitatem. Not always or as soon as we would, but doth that which is better for us, and takes it ill to be misconstrued, as he was by Job; witness the next words, bloody words indeed, and not far from blasphemy. Accusat ergo Iob Dominum mendacii (Brent.). Contumeliosus videri potest (Merl.).

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_30:20

I cry unto Thee, and Thou dost not hear me.

Unanswered prayer

1. There is no state so low but a godly man may have a freedom with God in prayer. Though a poor soul be in the mire, though he be but dust and ashes, yet he hath access to the throne of grace.

2. It is our duty to pray most, and usually we pray best, when it is worst with us; when we are nigh the mire and dust, prayer is not only most seasonable, but most pure.

3. Affliction provokes a soul to pray to the utmost, to pray not only in sincerity, but with fervency, not only to pray with faith, but with a holy passion, or passionately.

4. When prayer is sent out with a cry to God in affliction, it is a wonder if it be not presently heard.

5. Not to be heard in a day of trouble and affliction is more troublesome to a gracious heart than all his afflictions. Job thought he was not heard, because he had not present deliverance; and in that sense, indeed, he was not heard. And thus many of the saints may pray and not be heard; that is, they may pray, and not have present deliverance. How may we know that we are heard at any time?

(1) By the quietness of our spirits.

(2) Though we receive not the mercy presently, yet if we receive fresh strength to bear the want of it, that is an answer.

(3) We are answered when, though the evil be not removed, yet we have faith and patience to wait and tarry the Lords leisure for the removal of it.

(4) He is answered in prayer that is more heavenly, or more in heaven after prayer. He that is edified in his holy faith, hath certainly prayed in the Holy Ghost, and, sure enough, every such prayer is heard. Godly men are always heard of God, yet they often think that they are not heard. (Joseph Caryl.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Job 30:20-21. Thou dost not hear me — Namely, so as to answer or help me. I stand up — Namely, before thee: I pray importunately and continually, as thou requirest; and thou regardest me not — Notwithstanding all my griefs and cries, thou dost not pity and help me, but rather seemest to take pleasure in beholding my calamities, as the following words imply; Thou art become cruel to me — Hebrew, תהפךְ, tehapheck, Thou art turned to be cruel, as if thou hadst changed thy very nature; which is kind, merciful, and gracious; and such thou hast formerly been in thy carriage to me; but now thou art grown severe, rigorous, and inexorable. Thou opposest thyself against me — Thy power, wherewith I expected that thou wouldest have supported me under my troubles, thou usest against me.

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

20 I cry to Thee for help, and Thou answerest not;

I stand there, and Thou lookest fixedly at me.

21 Thou changest Thyself to a cruel being towards me,

With the strength of Thy hand Thou makest war upon me.

22 Thou raisest me upon the stormy wind,

Thou causest me to drive along And vanish in the roaring of the storm.

23 For I know: Thou wilt bring me back to death,

Into the house of assembly for all living.

If he cries for help, his cry remains unanswered; if he stands there looking up reverentially to God (perhaps עמד, with משּׁוּע to be supplied, has the sense of desisting or restraining, as Gen 29:35; Gen 30:9), the troubling, fixed look of God, who looks fixedly and hostilely upon him, anything but ready to help (comp. Job 7:20; Job 16:9), meets his upturned eye. התבּנן, to look consideringly upon anything, is elsewhere joined with אל, על, עד, or even with the acc; here, where a motionless fixed look is intended, with בּ (= fi). It is impossible to draw the לא, Job 30:20, over to ותּתבּנן (Jer., Saad., Umbr., Welte, and others), both on account of the Waw consec. (Ew. 351a), and on account of the separation by the new antecedent עמדתּי. On the reading of two Codd. ותתכנן ("Thou settest Thyself against me"), which Houbigant and Ew. prefer, Rosenm. has correctly pronounced judgment: est potius pro mendo habenda. Instead of consolingly answering his prayer, and instead of showing Himself willing to help, God, who was formerly so kind towards him, changes towards him, His creature, into a cruel being, saevum (אכזר in the book of Job only here and Job 41:2, where it signifies "foolhardy;" comp. לאויב in the dependent passage, Isa 63:10), and makes war upon him (שׂטם as Job 16:9) by causing him to feel the strength of His omnipotent hand (עצם יד as Deu 8:17, synon. חזק).

It is not necessary in Job 30:22 to forsake the accentuation, and to translate: Thou raisest me up, Thou causest me go in the wind (Ew., Hirz., and others); the accentuation of רוח is indeed not a disjunctive Dech, but a conjunctive Tarcha, but preceded by Munach, which, according to the rule, Psalter ii. 500, 5, here, where two conjunctives come together, has a smaller conjunctive value. Therefore: elevas me in ventum, equitare facis me, viz., super ventum (Dachselt), for one does not only say הרכּיב על, Ch1 13:7, or ל, Psa 66:12, but also אל, Sa2 6:3; and accordingly תּשּׂאני אל־רוּח is also not to be translated: Thou snatchest me into the wind or storm (Hahn, Schlottm.), but: Thou raisest me up to the wind or storm, as upon an animal for riding (Umbr., Olsh.). According to Oriental tradition, Solomon rode upon the east wind, and in Arabic they say of one who hurried rapidly by, racab al-genâhai er-rih, he rides upon the wings of the wind; in the present passage, the point of comparison is the being absolutely passively hurried forth from the enjoyment of a healthy and happy life to a dizzy height, whence a sudden overthrow threatens him who is unwillingly removed (comp. Psa 102:11, Thou hast lifted me up and hurled me forth).

The lot which threatens him from this painful suspense Job expresses (Job 30:22) in the puzzling words: וּתמגגני תשׁיּה. Thus the Keri, after which lxx transl. (if it has not read מישׁוּעה), καὶ ἀπέῤῥηιψάς με ἀπὸ σωτηρίας. The modern expositors who follow the Keri, by taking ותמגגני for ותמגג לי (according to Ges. 121, 4), translate: Thou causest counsel and understanding (Welte), happiness (Blumenf.), and the like, to vanish from me; continuance, existence, duration would be better (vid., Job 6:13, and especially on Job 26:3). The thought it appropriate, but the expression is halting. Jerome, who translates valide, points to the correct thing, and Buxtorf (Lex. col. 2342f.) by interpreting the not less puzzling Targum translation in fundamento = funditus or in essentia = essentialiter, has, without intending it, hit upon the idea of the Hebr. Keri; תשׁיּה is intended as a closer defining, or adverbial, accusative: Thou causest me to vanish as to existence, ita ut tota essentia pereat h.e. totaliter et omnino. Perhaps this was really the meaning of the poet: most completely, most thoroughly, altogether, like the Arab. ḥaqqan. But it is unfavourable to this Keri, that תושׁיה (from the verb ושׁי), as might be expected, is always written plene elsewhere; the correction of the תשׁוה is violent, and moreover this form, correctly read, gives a sense far more consistent with the figure, Job 30:22. Ges., Umbr., and Carey falsely read תּשׁוּה, terres me; this verb is unknown in Hebr., and even in Chaldee is only used in Ithpeal, אשׁתּוי (= Hebr. חרד); for a similar reason Bttcher's תּשׁוה (which is intended to mean: in despair) is also not to be used. Even Stuhlmann perceived that תשׁוה is equivalent to תּשׁוּאה; it is, with Ew. and Olsh., to be read תּשׁוּה (not with Pareau and Hirz. תּשׁוה without the Dag.), and this form signifies, as תשׁואה, Job 36:29, from שׁוא = שׁאה, from which it is derived by change of consonants, the crash of thunder, or even the rumbling or roar as of a storm or a falling in (procellae sive ruinae). The meaning is hardly, that he who rides away upon the stormy wind melts and trickles down like drops of rain among the pealing of the thunder, when the thunder-storm, whose harbinger is the stormy wind, gathers; but that in the storm itself, which increases in fury to the howling of a tempest, he dissolves away. תּשׁוּה for בּתּשׁוּה, comp. Psa 107:26 : their soul melted away (dissolved) בּרעה. The compulsory journey in the air, therefore, passes into nothing or nearly nothing, as Job is well aware, Job 30:23 : "for I know: (without כּי, as Job 19:25; Ps. 9:21) Thou wilt bring me back to death" (acc. of the goal, or locative without any sign). If תּשׁיבני is taken in its most natural signification reduces, death is represented as essentially one with the dust of death (comp. Job 1:21 with Gen 3:19), or even with non-existence, out of which man is come into being; nevertheless השׁיב can also, by obliterating the notion of return, like redigere, have only the signification of the turn of destiny and change of condition that is effected. The assertion that שׁוּב always includes an "again," and retains it inexorably (vid., Khler on Zac 13:7, S. 239), is untenable. In post-biblical Hebrew, at least, it is certain that שׁוּב signifies not only "to become again," but also "to become," as Arab. ‛âd is used as synon. of jâ'in, devenir.

(Note: Vid., my Anekdota der mittelalterlichen Scholastik unter Juden und Moslemen, S. 347.)

With מות, the designation of the condition, is coupled the designation of the place: Hades (under the notion of which that of the grave is included) is the great involuntary rendezvous of all who live in this world.

Keil & Delitzsch — Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament (1861–1891) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API. (Old Testament only.)

30:20-21 you don’t answer: This was Job’s frequent complaint (9:16; 19:7; 23:2-9; 31:35), which God soon answered (38:1).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

stand up--the reverential attitude of a suppliant before a king (Kg1 8:14; Luk 18:11-13).

not--supplied from the first clause. But the intervening affirmative "stand" makes this ellipsis unlikely. Rather, as in Job 16:9 (not only dost thou refuse aid to me "standing" as a suppliant, but), thou dost regard me with a frown: eye me sternly.

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 20. I cry unto thee] I am persecuted by man, afflicted with sore disease, and apparently forsaken of God.

I stand up] Or, as some translate, "I persevere, and thou lookest upon me." Thou seest my desolate, afflicted state; but thine eye doth not affect thy heart. Thou leavest me unsupported to struggle with my adversities.

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

(20) Thou regardest me not.—The Authorised Version understands that the negative of the first clause must be supplied in the second, as is the case in Psa_9:18 : “The needy shall not always be forgotten; the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever.” Others understand it, “I stand up (i.e., to pray) in the attitude of prayer, and Thou lookest at me,” i.e., and doest no more with mute indifference.

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

20. This verse reads,

I cry unto thee and thou dost not hear me,

I stand up, and thou lookest at me.

The second clause describes Job’s importunity in his appeal, but the only reply is that God “looketh” at him, i. e. with silent indifference, or in stern severity.

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.

I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me,.... Which added greatly to his affliction, that though he cried to the Lord for help and deliverance, yet he turned a deaf ear to him; and though he heard him, as undoubtedly he did, he did not answer him immediately; at least not in the way in which he desired and expected he would: crying is expressive of prayer, and supposes distress, and denotes vehemence of spirit:

I stand up; in prayer, standing being a prayer gesture, as many observe from Jer 15:1; See Gill on Mat 6:5; or he persisted in it, he continued praying, was incessant in it, and yet could obtain no answer; or this signifies silence, as some (f) interpret it; he cried, and then ceased, waiting for an answer; but whether he prayed, or whether he was silent, it was the same thing:

and thou regardest me not; the word "not" is not in this clause, but is repeated from the preceding, as it is by Ben Gersom and others; but some read it without it, and give the sense either thus, thou considerest me whether it is fit to receive my prayer or not, so Sephorno; or to renew my strokes, to add new afflictions to me, as Jarchi and Bar Tzemach; or thou lookest upon me as one pleased with the sight of me in such a miserable condition, so far from helping me; wherefore it follows.

(f) Jarchi, Ben Gersom, and Bar Tzemach.

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

I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me - This was a complaint which Job often made, that he could not get the ear of God; that his prayer was not regarded, and that he could not get his cause before him; compare Job 13:3, Job 13:19 ff, and Job 27:9.

I stand up - Standing was a common posture of prayer among the ancients; see Heb 11:21; 1Ki 8:14, 1Ki 8:55; Neh 9:2. The meaning is, that when Job stood up to pray, God did not regard his prayer.

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

Not is supplied by Protestants in the second part of the verse from the first; (Haydock) as this construction is not unusual in the Hebrew. Septuagint, "they have stood up, and have considered me," (Calmet) to procure my entire ruin. (Haydock)

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).

Thou dost not hear me, to wit, so as to answer or help me.

I stand up, or, I stand, to wit, before thee, i.e. I pray, as this phrase signifies, Jer 15:1; 18:20, this being a gesture of prayer, Mat 6:5. And so the same thing is here repeated in other words, after the manner. Or, I persist or persevere in praying; I pray importunately and continually, as thou requirest.

Thou regardest me not; so the particle not is supplied out of the former clause. Or without the negation, thou knowest or observest me, and all my griefs and cries, and yet dost not pity nor help me, but rather takest pleasure in the contemplation of my calamities, as the following words imply. Or it may be taken interrogatively, Dost thou regard me? i.e. thou dost not.

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

20. Hear — Rather, answer. Regardest me (omit not) — Job takes the reverential attitude of a suppliant, and God looks upon him calmly and pitilessly.

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

I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me. It is the worst of all calamities to be God-forsaken, as Job believed himself to be, because he had no immediate answer to his prayers. The bitterest cry upon the cross was "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" But no good man is ever really God-forsaken, and no rightful and earnest prayers are ever really unheard. Job "had need of patience", (Heb_10:36) patient as he was. (Jam_5:11) He should have trusted God more, and complained less. I stand up, and thou regardest me not; rather, I stand up, as the manner of the Jews usually was in prayer, (Luk_18:11) and thou lookest at me (see the Revised Version). Job"s complaint is that, when he stands up and stretches out his hands to God in prayer, God simply looks on, does nothing, gives him no help.

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

I stand - I pray importunately and continually.

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

cruel

This word means unkind.

with the strength of your hand you persecute me

The word "hand" represents God's power. AT: "you persecute me with your power" (See: Metonymy)

translationWords

power

hand

persecute

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

I stood to see, to remain silent, and to understand, as in (Neh. 8:5), “And when he opened [it], all the people stood,” and no longer replied.

and You ponder me You think about me to change my plagues.

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.