Job 30:28

28 I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.

Job 30:28 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
28 I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.
English Standard Version (ESV)
28 I go about darkened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
New Living Translation (NLT)
28 I walk in gloom, without sunlight. I stand in the public square and cry for help.
The Message Bible (MSG)
28 I walk under a black cloud. The sun is gone. I stand in the congregation and protest.
American Standard Version (ASV)
28 I go mourning without the sun: I stand up in the assembly, and cry for help.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
28 I walk in the dark without the sun. I stand up in public and call for help.
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
28 I walk about blackened, but not by the sun. I stood in the assembly and cried out for help.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
28 My skin has become dark, but the sun didn't do it. I stand up in the community and cry out for help.

Job 30:28 Meaning and Commentary

Job 30:28

I went mourning without the sun
So overwhelmed with grief, that he refused to have any comfort from, or any advantage by the sun; hence Mr. Broughton renders it, "out of the sun"; he did not choose to walk in the sunshine, but out of it, to indulge his grief and sorrow the more; or he went in black attire, and wrapped and covered himself with it, that he might not see the sun, or receive any relief by it: or "I go black, [but] not by the sun" F17; his face and his skin were black, but not through the sun looking upon him and discolouring him, as in ( Song of Solomon 1:6 ) ; but through the force of his disease, which had changed his complexion, and made him as black as a Kedarene, or those that dwell in the tents of Kedar, ( Song of Solomon 1:5 ) ; and he also walked without the sun of righteousness arising on him, with healing in his wings, which was worst of all:

I stood up, [and] I cried in the congregation:
either in the congregation of the saints met together for religious worship, where he cried unto God for help and deliverance, and for the light of his countenance, ( Job 30:20 ) ; or such was the extreme anguish of his soul, that when a multitude of people got about him to see him in his distressed condition, he could not contain himself, but burst out before them in crying and tears, though he knew it was unbecoming a man of his age and character; or he could not content himself to stay within doors and soothe his grief, but must go abroad and in public, and there expressed with strong cries and tears his miserable condition.


FOOTNOTES:

F17 (hmx alb) "non propter solem", Vatablus; "non a sole", Junius & Tremellius, Drusius, Mercerus; "non ob solem", Piscator.

Job 30:28 In-Context

26 Yet when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, then came darkness.
27 The churning inside me never stops; days of suffering confront me.
28 I go about blackened, but not by the sun; I stand up in the assembly and cry for help.
29 I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of owls.
30 My skin grows black and peels; my body burns with fever.

Cross References 2

  • 1. S Job 17:14; Lamentations 4:8; Psalms 38:6; Psalms 42:9; Psalms 43:2
  • 2. S Job 19:7; S Job 24:12
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