They mar my path, They set forward my calamity, without anyone’s help.
Parallel translations
- KJV They mar my path, they set forward my calamity, they have no helper.
- BSB They tear up my path; they profit from my destruction, with no one to restrain them.
- NKJV They break up my path, They promote my calamity; They have no helper.
- NASB “They break up my path, They promote my destruction; No one restrains them.
- NLT They block my road and do everything they can to destroy me. They know I have no one to help me.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Job complains that his tormentors tear down his way of life and pile on his ruin, needing no help to do it. It shows how completely overwhelmed he feels by those who attack him in his weakness.
Overview
Continuing his closing lament, Job describes how the contemptible outcasts of the previous verses now assault him, breaking up his path and hastening his downfall. Where once he was honored, he is now beset by those who require no assistance to add to his misery. The verse captures the social collapse that accompanied his physical suffering, foreshadowing the way the righteous Sufferer, Christ, would also be mocked and abandoned by those beneath him in dignity.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Zech 1:15I am very angry with the nations that are at ease; for I was but a little displeased, but they added to the calamity.”
- Ps 69:26For they persecute him whom you have wounded. They tell of the sorrow of those whom you have hurt.
- Isa 3:12As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. My people, those who lead you cause you to err, and destroy the way of your paths.
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 30:13 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.