I have become a brother of jackals, a companion of ostriches.
Parallel translations
- WEB I am a brother to jackals, and a companion to ostriches.
- KJV I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
- NKJV I am a brother of jackals, And a companion of ostriches.
- NASB “I have become a brother to jackals, And a companion of ostriches.
- NLT Instead, I am considered a brother to jackals and a companion to owls.
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 calls himself a brother to jackals and a companion to ostriches. He likens his mournful cries and isolation to the desolate creatures of the wilderness.
Overview
By comparing himself to jackals and ostriches, animals associated with wailing cries and lonely wastelands, Job expresses how his grief has driven him into desolation and estrangement from human company. The imagery conveys both the sound of his lament and his social exile. His isolation echoes the rejection later endured by Christ, who was despised and forsaken yet bore that loneliness to bring estranged sinners into God's family.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Mic 1:8Because of this I will lament and wail; I will walk barefoot and naked. I will howl like a jackal and mourn like an ostrich.
- Ps 102:6I am like a desert owl, like an owl among the ruins.
- Job 17:14and say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ and to the worm, ‘My mother,’ or ‘My sister,’
- Mal 1:3but Esau I have hated, and I have made his mountains a wasteland and left his inheritance to the desert jackals.”
- Ps 44:19But You have crushed us in the lair of jackals; You have covered us with deepest darkness.
- Isa 38:14I chirp like a swallow or crane; I moan like a dove. My eyes grow weak as I look upward. O Lord, I am oppressed; be my security.”
- Isa 13:21–22But desert creatures will lie down there, and howling creatures will fill her houses. Ostriches will dwell there, and wild goats will leap about.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
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 30:29 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.