When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.
Parallel translations
- WEB When I looked for good, then evil came; When I waited for light, there came darkness.
- BSB But when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, darkness fell.
- NKJV But when I looked for good, evil came to me; And when I waited for light, then came darkness.
- NASB “When I expected good, evil came; When I waited for light, darkness came.
- NLT So I looked for good, but evil came instead. I waited for the light, but darkness fell.
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 looked for good but evil came, and waited for light but found darkness. It captures the bitter reversal of his hopeful expectations.
Overview
Job describes how his reasonable expectation of blessing was met instead with calamity, and his hope for light gave way to gloom. The verse expresses the disorienting experience of life not unfolding as the upright might expect. It reminds believers that present darkness is not the final word, for the gospel promises that those who walk with God will at last see the true Light, Christ, who turns mourning into joy.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Jer 8:15We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble!
- Jer 14:19Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul lothed Zion? why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace, and there is no good; and for the time of healing, and behold trouble!
- Job 3:25–26For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.
- Job 23:17Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face.
- Ps 97:11Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.
- Isa 50:10Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in the name of the LORD, and stay upon his God.
- Job 19:8He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths.
- Job 18:6The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him.
- Mic 1:12For the inhabitant of Maroth waited carefully for good: but evil came down from the LORD unto the gate of Jerusalem.
- Jer 15:18Why is my pain perpetual, and my wound incurable, which refuseth to be healed? wilt thou be altogether unto me as a liar, and as waters that fail?
- Job 29:18Then I said, I shall die in my nest, and I shall multiply my days as the sand.
- Job 18:18He shall be driven from light into darkness, and chased out of the world.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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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 30:26 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.