Limitless Word
At night my bones are filled with pain, which gnaws at me relentlessly.
Job 30:17 · New Living Translation
Parallel translations
  • WEB In the night season my bones are pierced in me, and the pains that gnaw me take no rest.
  • KJV My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest.
  • BSB Night pierces my bones, and my gnawing pains never rest.
  • NKJV My bones are pierced in me at night, And my gnawing pains take no rest.
  • NASB “At night it pierces my bones within me, And my gnawing pains do not rest.

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

At night Job's bones feel pierced and his gnawing pains never rest. It vividly conveys the unrelenting physical torment of his disease.

Overview

Job describes sleepless nights in which pain seems to bore into his bones and the aches that gnaw at him give no relief. The night, often a time of rest, becomes for him a season of intensified suffering. His honest lament shows that faith does not deny real pain, and it anticipates the comfort of the gospel, where Christ bore our griefs so that suffering is no longer meaningless for those who trust him.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 6

  • Job 33:19–21He is chastened also with pain on his bed, with continual strife in his bones;
  • Ps 22:2My God, I cry in the daytime, but you don’t answer; in the night season, and am not silent.
  • Ps 6:2–6Have mercy on me, Yahweh, for I am faint. Yahweh, heal me, for my bones are troubled.
  • Isa 38:13I waited patiently until morning. He breaks all my bones like a lion. From day even to night you will make an end of me.
  • Job 7:4When I lie down, I say, ‘When shall I arise, and the night be gone?’ I toss and turn until the dawning of the day.
  • Ps 38:2–8For your arrows have pierced me, your hand presses hard on me.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (3)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Job videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Job 30:17YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on JobMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 30:17 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.