Job 30:27

Job 30:27 My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.

Ver. 27. My bowels boiled, and rested not] Being tossed and tumbled with continual boiling and bubbling, rumbling and making a rattle (as the word signifieth), whether through passion or compassion, Ollae more insonueruut (Merc.). With most compassionate sympathy (saith one learned paraphrast) did my bowels yearn over the afflicted, so that I could have no quiet in myself for grieving and taking thought for them; I was seldom or never without sorrow for some one or other’s affliction.

The days of affliction prevented me] Prevision should have hindered this prevention. Evils foreseen come no whit the sooner, but far the easier. It is a labour well lost if they befall us not; well spent if they do; whereas coming suddenly, they find weak minds secure, make them miserable, leave them desperate. Expect them therefore and prepare for them; darts foreseen are dintless.

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.

My inward parts boiled without ceasing. The bowels are the seat of passion and of compassion; and therefore this may be understood, either,

1. Of his compassionate and deep sense of others’ miseries; which is oft expressed by bowels, as Isa 16:11; Col 3:12, and elsewhere, of which he spoke Job 30:25, to which he subjoins the contrary usage which he met with, Job 30:26. And then, in this first part of Job 30:27, he renews the mention of his compassion to others, and in the latter part he adds, by way of antithesis or opposition, that his mercy was requited with cruel afflictions. Or,

2. Of the grievousness of his troubles, which is sometimes expressed by the troubling or boiling of the bowels, or inward parts; as Lam 1:20.

Prevented me, i.e. came upon me suddenly and unexpectedly, when I promised to myself peace and prosperity, as the usual recompence which God promiseth and giveth to such as fear and please him, as I have done.

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

Job 30:27-28. My bowels boiled — Namely, with the violence of my disorder; and rested not — Hebrew,ולא דמו, velo damu, and were not silent. The days of affliction prevented me — Came upon me suddenly and unexpectedly, when I promised myself peace and prosperity. I went mourning without the sun — Hebrew, קדר הלכתי, koder hillacti, I walked black, not by the sun. My very countenance became black, but not by the sun, which makes many other persons black, but by the force of my disease. I stood up, I cried in the congregation — I was not able to lie still, nor to refrain from cries in the greatest assemblies.

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

bowels--regarded as the seat of deep feeling (Isa 16:11).

boiled--violently heated and agitated.

prevented--Old English for "unexpectedly came upon" me, "surprised" me.

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 27. My bowels boiled] This alludes to the strong commotion in the bowels which every humane person feels at the sight of one in misery.

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

(27) My bowels boiled.—The sense is better expressed by the present, “My bowels boil, and rest not. Days of affliction have overtaken me unawares.” (See last verse.)

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

27. My bowels boiled] Rather, boil.

prevented me] i. e. are come before me, have overtaken me. The bowels are the seat of feeling; and the words “my bowels boil” describe the tumult of feelings, griefs, regrets and pains, that worked within him.

27–30. Further details of his sufferings in his time of affliction. The tenses should be put in the present.

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.

My bowels boiled, and rested not,.... All contained within him, his heart, lungs, and liver, in a literal sense, through a violent fever burning within him; or figuratively, being under great distress and trouble, by reason of his afflictions, outward and inward, see Jer 4:19;

the days of affliction prevented me; came sooner upon him than he thought; he did not expect the evil days to come, and the years draw nigh in which he should have no pleasure, until he was more advanced in years, and the time of his dissolution was at hand; they came at once, and unawares, upon him, when he looked not for them: some render the word "met me" (o), unexpectedly; or rather, they "rushed upon me" (p), in an hostile way; came in troops, and invaded and surrounded him, see Job 19:12.

(o) "occurrerunt mihi", Piscator, Cocceius. (p) "Incursarunt me", Schultens.

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

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. The heart beats quick; or it is heavy and pained; or it seems to melt within us in the exercise of pity or compassion; compare the notes at Isa 16:11. The idea here is, that the seat of sorrow and of grief was affected by his calamities. Nor was the feeling slight. His emotions he compared with agitated, boiling water. It is possible that there is an allusion here to the inflammatory nature of his disease, producing internal heat and pain; but it is more probable that he refers to the mental anguish which he endured.

The days of affliction prevented me - literally, “have anticipated me” - for so the word prevent was formerly used, and so it is uniformly used in the Bible; see the notes at Job 3:12; compare Psa 59:10; lxxix. 8; Psa 88:13; Psa 119:148; 1Th 4:15. There is in the Hebrew word (קדם qâdam) the idea that days of anguish came in an unexpected manner, or that they anticipated the fulfillment of his plans. All his schemes and hopes of life had been anticipated by these overwhelming sorrows.

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

27. Bowels — According to the Oriental ideas, the seat of deep and noble feelings and emotions. Barnes thinks Job means “the upper bowels, or the region of the heart and the lungs.” In Isa_16:11, deep feeling for others calls forth from within responsive notes, like those of the harp touched by the plectrum. South Sea Islanders “call compassion a bleating of the bowels.” — Forster.

Prevented — Have overtaken.

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

My bowels boiled, and rested not; rather, boil and rest not (see the Revised Version). It is his present condition of which Job speaks from ver. 27 to ver. 31. His "entrails," i.e. his whole innermost nature, is disturbed, tormented, thrown into confusion. The days of affliction prevented me; rather, are come upon me (comp. ver. 16).

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

Affliction - Came upon me suddenly, and unexpectedly, when I promised myself peace and prosperity.

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

My heart is troubled and does not rest

Job speaks of his heart as if it were a person. AT: "I am troubled in my heart and the feeling does not end" (See: Personification)

days of affliction have come on me

Days of affliction coming on Job represents Job experiencing affliction for many days. AT: "I experience affliction many days" or "I suffer every day" (See: Metaphor)

I have gone about

Here "have gone about" represents living. AT: "I have lived" or "I live" (See: Metaphor)

like one who was living in the dark, but not because of the sun

Here "living in the dark" is a metaphor that represents being extremely sad. The phrase "but not because of the sun" clarifies that "living in the dark" is a metaphor, that is, the darkness is not caused by the sun being hidden. AT: "like one who is terribly sad" (See: Metaphor)

a brother to jackals, a companion of ostriches

Being a brother to these animals is a metaphor for being like them. AT: "I am like jackals and ostriches that cry out in the wilderness" (See: Metaphor)

translationWords

assembly

brother

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

and did not become silent They cannot be silent.

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.