Job 30:6

Job 30:6 To dwell in the clifts of the valleys, [in] caves of the earth, and [in] the rocks.

Ver. 6. To dwell in the cliffs of the valleys] Like wild beasts and serpents; which these idle persons will rather choose to do, and suffer any hardship, than labour for their livings, and do good in their places; earning it before they eat, and contributing something to the public welfare, as bees bring their honey to the common hive; this, those that will not do, are worthily cast out, and made to dwell in the cliffs, &c. In the time of Cato Censorius, when any one would be a citizen of Rome, they took his hand between theirs; and if it felt smooth and soft, they presently, as an idle vagabond, gave him his dimissal; but if hard and knotty, they forthwith admitted him to dwell in their city. And if a malefactor were apprehended whose hands were labouring hands, his punishment should be mitigated, though his crime were grievous; as if otherwise, a severe punishment was inflicted for a light offence.

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.

They are forced "to dwell."

cliffs of the valleys--rather, "in the gloomy valleys"; literally, "in the gloom of the valleys," or wadies. To dwell in valleys is, in the East, a mark of wretchedness. The troglodytes, in parts of Arabia, lived in such dwellings as caves.

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 6. To dwell in the cliffs of the valleys] They were obliged to take shelter in the most dangerous, out-of-the-way, and unfrequented places. This is the meaning.

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

To dwell in the cliffs of the valleys,.... Or "brooks" (l), in such hollow places as were made by floods and streams of waters:

in caves of the earth, and in the rocks; where they betook themselves for fear of men, and through shame, being naked and miserable not fit to be seen: Job has respect to the Horites and Troglodytes, his neighbours, who dwelt in such places chiefly.

(l) "torrentium", Tigurine version, Pagninus, Montanus, &c.

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

To dwell in the cliffs of the valleys - The word here rendered “cliffs” (ערוץ ‛ârûts) denotes rather “horror,” or something “horrid,” and the sense here is, that they dwelt in “the horrer of valleys;” that is, in horrid valleys. The idea is that of deep and frightful glens, where wild beasts ranged, far from the abodes of men, and surrounded by frightful wastes. The word rendered “valleys” (נחל nachal) means properly a brook, stream, water-course - what is now called a wady; a place where the winter torrents run, but which is usually dry in summer; see the notes at Job 6:15.

In caves of the earth - Margin, as in Hebrew “holes.” Septuagint “Whose houses are - πρῶγλαι πετρῶν trōglai petrōn - caverns of the rocks;” that is, who are “Troglodytes.” Caves furnished a natural dwelling for the poor and the outcast, and it is well known that it was not uncommon in Egypt, and in the deserts of Arabia, to occupy such caves as a habitation; see Diod. Sic. Lib. iii. xiv. and Strabo, Lib. 16,

And in the rocks - The caverns of the rocks. Dr. Richardson found a large number of such dwellings in the vicinity of Thebes, many of which were large and beautifully formed and sculptured with many curious devices. Mr. Rich, also, saw a large number of such caves not far from Mousal. Residence in Koordistan, vol. ii. p. 94.

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

Gravel of the torrents. (Menochius) --- Hebrew, "in the rocks," living like the Troglodites. (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).

As unworthy of human society, and for their beggary and dishonesty suspected and avoided of all men.

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

6. Clefts of the valleys — Literally, Horror of the gorges. Dwelling in valleys, Umbreit says, is in the East a mark of poverty and wretchedness.

Caves — Hhorim, as in the margin, holes of the earth, whence the word Horites, those who dwell in holes and caves — the aborigines of Idumaea. (Deu_2:12; Deu_2:22.) See note Job_24:2. The treatment that they and their ancestors had received at the hand of their conquerors led them to improve every opportunity of revenge, as is evident from their persecution of Job, whom misfortune had thrown into their power. Then, too, fallen human nature takes pleasure in maltreating those who have fallen from a higher plane to that of a lower one. Wolves devour a wolf when no longer capable of self-defence.

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

To dwell in the cliffs of. the valleys; of in the clefts (Revised Version). Western Asia is full of rocky regions, seamed with deep gorges and clefts, the walls of which rise abruptly or in terraces, and are themselves pierced with caves and cracks. The tract about Petra is, perhaps, the most remarkable of these regions; hut there are many others which closely resemble it. These places afford refuges to weak and outcast tribes, who hide in them, either in caves of the earth, or in the rocks. The Greeks called these unfortunates "Troglodytes" (Herod., 4:183; Strabo, 16. p. 1102; Diod. Sic., 3:14. etc.), the Hebrews "Horim," from rwOj "a hole."

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

in the crevices of the valleys There is a salty land that splits, where they would lie in the holes in the earth and the holes in the crevices of the rocks.

and rocks Heb. וכפים, the Aramaic translation of סלעים, rocks. (Another explanation:) in the crevice of the streams That is the crevice that the stream makes around itself.

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.