They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.
Parallel translations
- WEB They are children of fools, yes, children of base men. They were flogged out of the land.
- BSB A senseless and nameless brood, they were driven off the land.
- NKJV They were sons of fools, Yes, sons of vile men; They were scourged from the land.
- NASB “Worthless fellows, even those without a name, They were cast out from the land.
- NLT They are nameless fools, outcasts from society.
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 a senseless, disreputable brood, beaten and driven out of the land.
Overview
Job sums up his mockers as godless fools without name or honor, expelled from society by force. The phrase 'children of fools' marks them as morally and socially worthless in his eyes. This concluding portrait of their baseness magnifies the indignity of Job's present humiliation at their hands.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Prov 16:22Understanding is a wellspring of life unto him that hath it: but the instruction of fools is folly.
- Isa 32:6For the vile person will speak villany, and his heart will work iniquity, to practise hypocrisy, and to utter error against the LORD, to make empty the soul of the hungry, and he will cause the drink of the thirsty to fail.
- Prov 1:7The fear of the LORD is the beginning of knowledge: but fools despise wisdom and instruction.
- Prov 1:22How long, ye simple ones, will ye love simplicity? and the scorners delight in their scorning, and fools hate knowledge?
- Job 40:4Behold, I am vile; what shall I answer thee? I will lay mine hand upon my mouth.
- Jer 7:18The children gather wood, and the fathers kindle the fire, and the women knead their dough, to make cakes to the queen of heaven, and to pour out drink offerings unto other gods, that they may provoke me to anger.
- Mark 6:24And she went forth, and said unto her mother, What shall I ask? And she said, The head of John the Baptist.
- 2 Chr 22:3He also walked in the ways of the house of Ahab: for his mother was his counsellor to do wickedly.
- Ps 15:4In whose eyes a vile person is contemned; but he honoureth them that fear the LORD. He that sweareth to his own hurt, and changeth not.
- Ps 49:10–13For he seeth that wise men die, likewise the fool and the brutish person perish, and leave their wealth to others.
- 2 Kgs 8:18And he walked in the way of the kings of Israel, as did the house of Ahab: for the daughter of Ahab was his wife: and he did evil in the sight of the LORD.
- 2 Kgs 8:27And he walked in the way of the house of Ahab, and did evil in the sight of the LORD, as did the house of Ahab: for he was the son in law of the house of Ahab.
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 30:8 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.