They are gaunt from lack and famine. They gnaw the dry ground, in the gloom of waste and desolation.
Parallel translations
- KJV For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste.
- BSB Gaunt from poverty and hunger, they gnawed the dry land, and the desolate wasteland by night.
- NKJV They are gaunt from want and famine, Fleeing late to the wilderness, desolate and waste,
- NASB “From poverty and famine they are gaunt, They who gnaw at the dry ground by night in waste and desolation,
- NLT They are gaunt from poverty and hunger. They claw the dry ground in desolate wastelands.
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
These men were gaunt with hunger, gnawing the parched ground in desolate wastelands.
Overview
Job describes the destitute condition of his mockers, driven by famine to scavenge in barren places. The grim picture portrays them as outcasts living on the margins of society. By detailing their wretchedness, Job underscores how low he has been brought, now despised even by the most desperate of men.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Job 24:5Behold, as wild donkeys in the desert, they go out to their work, seeking diligently for food. The wilderness yields them bread for their children.
- Job 24:13–16“These are of those who rebel against the light. They don’t know its ways, nor stay in its paths.
- Heb 11:38(of whom the world was not worthy), wandering in deserts, mountains, caves, and the holes of the earth.
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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 30:3 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.