“As through a wide gap they come, Amid the storm they roll on.
Parallel translations
- WEB As through a wide breach they come, in the middle of the ruin they roll themselves in.
- KJV They came upon me as a wide breaking in of waters: in the desolation they rolled themselves upon me.
- BSB They advance as through a wide breach; through the ruins they keep rolling in.
- NKJV They come as broad breakers; Under the ruinous storm they roll along.
- NLT They come at me from all directions. They jump on me when I am down.
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 pictures his attackers pouring through like an army breaching a city wall, rolling in upon him amid the wreckage. It conveys the overwhelming, unstoppable force of his afflictions.
Overview
Using siege imagery, Job likens his suffering to enemies storming through a wide gap in a broken wall and tumbling over the ruins toward him. The picture emphasizes that his defenses are gone and he is exposed to relentless assault. Such language of being overwhelmed anticipates the believer's experience that, apart from God's protection, calamity can feel like a flood, and points to the refuge ultimately found only in Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Job 22:16who were snatched away before their time, whose foundation was poured out as a stream,
- Ps 69:14–15Deliver me out of the mire, and don’t let me sink. Let me be delivered from those who hate me, and out of the deep waters.
- Ps 18:4The cords of death surrounded me. The floods of ungodliness made me afraid.
- Isa 8:7–8now therefore, behold, the Lord brings upon them the mighty flood waters of the River: the king of Assyria and all his glory. It will come up over all its channels, and go over all its banks.
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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 30:14 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.