21 Thou art changed to a cruel one to me; with the strength of thy hand thou pursuest me.
If I sinned, thou wouldest mark me, and thou wouldest not acquit me of mine iniquity. If I were wicked, woe unto me! and righteous, I will not lift up my head, being [so] full of shame, and beholding mine affliction; -- And it increaseth: thou huntest me as a fierce lion; and ever again thou shewest thy marvellous power upon me. Thou renewest thy witnesses before me and increasest thy displeasure against me; successions [of evil] and a time of toil are with me.
His anger teareth and pursueth me; he gnasheth with his teeth against me; [as] mine adversary he sharpeneth his eyes at me. They gape upon me with their mouth; they smite my cheeks reproachfully; they range themselves together against me. ùGod hath delivered me over to the iniquitous man, and hurled me into the hands of the wicked. I was at rest, but he hath shattered me; he hath taken me by the neck and shaken me to pieces, and set me up for his mark. His arrows encompass me round about, he cleaveth my reins asunder and doth not spare; he poureth out my gall upon the ground. He breaketh me with breach upon breach; he runneth upon me like a mighty man.
Have I sinned, what do I unto thee, thou Observer of men? Why hast thou set me as an object of assault for thee, so that I am become a burden to myself? And why dost not thou forgive my transgression and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I lie down in the dust, and thou shalt seek me early, and I shall not be.
Wilt thou terrify a driven leaf? and wilt thou pursue dry stubble? For thou writest bitter things against me, and makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth; And thou puttest my feet in the stocks, and markest all my paths; thou settest a bound about the soles of my feet; -- One who, as a rotten thing consumeth, as a garment that the moth eateth.
Know now that +God hath overthrown me, and hath surrounded me with his net. Behold, I cry out of wrong, and I am not heard; I cry aloud, but there is no judgment. He hath hedged up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths. He hath stripped me of my glory, and taken the crown from my head.
Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more? Hath his loving-kindness ceased for ever? hath [his] word come to an end from generation to generation? Hath ùGod forgotten to be gracious? or hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies? Selah.
Worthy.Bible » Commentaries » Matthew Henry Commentary » Commentary on Job 30
Commentary on Job 30 Matthew Henry Commentary
Chapter 30
It is a melancholy "But now' which this chapter begins with. Adversity is here described as much to the life as prosperity was in the foregoing chapter, and the height of that did but increase the depth of this. God sets the one over-against the other, and so did Job, that his afflictions might appear the more grievous, and consequently his case the more pitiable.
Job 30:1-14
Here Job makes a very large and sad complaint of the great disgrace he had fallen into, from the height of honour and reputation, which was exceedingly grievous and cutting to such an ingenuous spirit as Job's was. Two things he insists upon as greatly aggravating his affliction:-
Job 30:15-31
In this second part of Job's complaint, which is very bitter, and has a great many sorrowful accents in it, we may observe a great deal that he complains of and some little that he comforts himself with.