They had to live in the clefts of the valleys, In caves of the earth and the rocks.
Parallel translations
- WEB So that they dwell in frightful valleys, and in holes of the earth and of the rocks.
- KJV To dwell in the cliffs of the valleys, in caves of the earth, and in the rocks.
- BSB so that they lived on the slopes of the wadis, among the rocks and in holes in the ground.
- NASB So that they live on the slopes of ravines, In holes in the ground and among the rocks.
- NLT So now they live in frightening ravines, in caves and among the rocks.
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
They were forced to live in dreadful ravines, holes in the ground, and rocky caves.
Overview
Job pictures these outcasts dwelling in the most forbidding places, gullies and caves far from human dwellings. Their habitation matches their rejected status. By dwelling on their wretched circumstances, Job emphasizes the depth of his own degradation in being scorned by such men.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 4
- Judg 6:2The hand of Midian prevailed against Israel; and because of Midian the children of Israel made themselves the dens which are in the mountains, and the caves, and the strongholds.
- 1 Sam 22:1–2David therefore departed from there, and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him.
- Rev 6:15The kings of the earth, the princes, the commanding officers, the rich, the strong, and every slave and free person, hid themselves in the caves and in the rocks of the mountains.
- Isa 2:19Men shall go into the caves of the rocks, and into the holes of the earth, from before the terror of Yahweh, and from the glory of his majesty, when he arises to shake the earth mightily.
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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 30:6 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.