15 Terrors assault me - my dignity in shreds, salvation up in smoke. 16 "And now my life drains out, as suffering seizes and grips me hard. 17 Night gnaws at my bones; the pain never lets up. 18 I am tied hand and foot, my neck in a noose. I twist and turn. 19 Thrown facedown in the muck, I'm a muddy mess, inside and out. What Did I Do to Deserve This? 20 "I shout for help, God, and get nothing, no answer! I stand to face you in protest, and you give me a blank stare! 21 You've turned into my tormenter - you slap me around, knock me about. 22 You raised me up so I was riding high and then dropped me, and I crashed. 23 I know you're determined to kill me, to put me six feet under. 24 "What did I do to deserve this? Did I ever hit anyone who was calling for help? 25 Haven't I wept for those who live a hard life, been heartsick over the lot of the poor? 26 But where did it get me? I expected good but evil showed up. I looked for light but darkness fell. 27 My stomach's in a constant churning, never settles down. Each day confronts me with more suffering. 28 I walk under a black cloud. The sun is gone. I stand in the congregation and protest. 29 I howl with the jackals, I hoot with the owls. 30 I'm black and blue all over, burning up with fever. 31 My fiddle plays nothing but the blues; my mouth harp wails laments.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on Job 30:15-31
Commentary on Job 30:15-31
(Read Job 30:15-31)
Job complains a great deal. Harbouring hard thoughts of God was the sin which did, at this time, most easily beset Job. When inward temptations join with outward calamities, the soul is hurried as in a tempest, and is filled with confusion. But woe be to those who really have God for an enemy! Compared with the awful state of ungodly men, what are all outward, or even inward temporal afflictions? There is something with which Job comforts himself, yet it is but a little. He foresees that death will be the end of all his troubles. God's wrath might bring him to death; but his soul would be safe and happy in the world of spirits. If none pity us, yet our God, who corrects, pities us, even as a father pitieth his own children. And let us look more to the things of eternity: then the believer will cease from mourning, and joyfully praise redeeming love.