They were banished from among men, shouted down like thieves,
Parallel translations
- WEB They are driven out from among men. They cry after them as after a thief;
- KJV They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;)
- NKJV They were driven out from among men, They shouted at them as at a thief.
- NASB “They are driven from the community; They shout against them as against a thief,
- NLT They are driven from human society, and people shout at them as if they were thieves.
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
Driven out from society, they were chased away with shouts as if they were thieves.
Overview
Job describes how these men were expelled from the community and pursued with cries of alarm like criminals. They were social outcasts whom respectable people drove away. The verse heightens the irony and pain of Job's situation, that those rejected by all now make sport of him in his affliction.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Dan 4:25You will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling will be with the beasts of the field. You will feed on grass like an ox and be drenched with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass you by, until you acknowledge that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whom He wishes.
- Gen 4:12–14When you till the ground, it will no longer yield its produce to you. You will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”
- Dan 4:32–33You will be driven away from mankind to live with the beasts of the field, and you will feed on grass like an ox. And seven times will pass you by, until you acknowledge that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whom He wishes.”
- Ps 109:10May his children wander as beggars, seeking sustenance far from their ruined homes.
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 30:5 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.