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Job’s Present Misery

30 “But now they mock me, those who are younger[a] than I,
whose fathers I disdained too much[b]
to put with my sheep dogs.[c]
Moreover, the strength of their[d] hands—
what use was it to me?
Those whose strength[e] had perished,

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Footnotes

  1. Job 30:1 tn Heb “smaller than I for days.”
  2. Job 30:1 tn Heb “who I disdained their fathers to set…,” meaning “whose fathers I disdained to set.” The relative clause modifies the young fellows who mock; it explains that Job did not think highly enough of them to put them with the dogs. The next verse will explain why.
  3. Job 30:1 sn Job is mocked by young fellows who come from low extraction. They mocked their elders and their betters. The scorn is strong here—dogs were despised as scavengers.
  4. Job 30:2 tn The reference is to the fathers of the scorners, who are here regarded as weak and worthless.
  5. Job 30:2 tn The word כֶּלַח (kelakh) only occurs in Job 5:26, but the Arabic cognate gives this meaning “strength.” Others suggest כָּלַח (kalakh, “old age”), כֹּל־חַיִל (kol khayil, “all vigor”), כֹּל־לֵחַ (kol leakh, “all freshness”), and the like. But there is no reason for such emendation.