Job 30 24

Job 30:24 kjv

Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.

Job 30:24 nkjv

"Surely He would not stretch out His hand against a heap of ruins, If they cry out when He destroys it.

Job 30:24 niv

"Surely no one lays a hand on a broken man when he cries for help in his distress.

Job 30:24 esv

"Yet does not one in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand, and in his disaster cry for help?

Job 30:24 nlt

"Surely no one would turn against the needy
when they cry for help in their trouble.

Job 30 verses

Job 30 24 Meaning

Job 30:24 is a cry of deep despair and rhetorical questioning by Job, expressing his incomprehension at his profound suffering and abandonment. While the exact translation has presented challenges to scholars due to some ambiguities in the Hebrew, a widely accepted interpretation conveys Job's feeling that even in the uttermost ruin or helplessness, a person would naturally reach out for aid, and their cry for help would ideally be heard and answered. Job finds his own experience to be a stark contradiction to this presumed universal principle of compassion, questioning why he, despite being reduced to the deepest degradation, is denied the basic mercy that should be extended even to the utterly ruined. The verse simultaneously captures Job's own desperate plea and his protest against the lack of assistance from both God and man.

Job 30 24 Context

Job 30:24 is situated in the midst of Job's profound lament, part of his third and final defense speech. Chapters 29 and 30 create a stark contrast: Chapter 29 vividly recounts Job's former eminence, integrity, and charitable works, detailing how he was a respected community leader, a benevolent judge, and a protector of the vulnerable. Chapter 30 abruptly shifts to Job's current reality of abject misery, humiliation, and abandonment. He is mocked by the lowest of society, afflicted with dreadful disease, and tormented by sleepless nights. He feels that even God has turned against him, becoming a cruel tormentor (Job 30:18-23). Verse 24 is a rhetorical outburst reflecting Job’s despair that even he, who had been a paragon of virtue and compassion, now receives no pity, defying what he believes should be a universal expectation—that even one utterly ruined or falling would elicit compassion and a helping hand. This serves as an implicit challenge to his friends' rigid retribution theology, which asserts that such suffering can only come from sin, thus denying Job the mercy due to the afflicted. Historically, ancient Near Eastern cultures, including Israel, placed a high value on hospitality and care for the distressed, widowed, and orphaned, principles which Job himself upheld (Job 29:12-16) and which make his current neglect even more baffling to him.

Job 30 24 Word analysis

• הַלֹּא (halō'): "Surely not?", "Is it not?". This is a rhetorical interrogative in Hebrew, typically expecting a positive affirmation ("Yes, surely!"). Its use here intensifies Job's questioning, expressing his incredulity or a strong assertion about what should happen, which ironically is not happening to him.
• אִם־בְּלִי יַד יִשְׁלַח (im-beli yad yishlach): This phrase is a textual challenge.
  • אִם־בְּלִי (im-beli): "If without," or more commonly interpreted as "if in a state of ruin/destruction/nothingness." The noun בְּלִי (beli) means "failure, lack, destruction, worthlessness." It captures Job's current state of absolute devastation.
  • יַד (yad): "hand." "To stretch out the hand" can mean reaching for help or offering help.
  • יִשְׁלַח (yishlach): "he stretches out," "he sends forth."
  • Combined Interpretation: "Surely to one in ruin/helplessness does one not stretch out a hand?" or "Surely, when one stretches out his hand for help while utterly without strength?" The first interpretation implies an expectation that compassion should be shown to the ruined; the second implies the ruined person will instinctively reach out for help.
• לֹא־יִשָּׁא (lo-yishsha'): "will not lift up" or "will not be lifted up." This verb carries the sense of lifting, supporting, or carrying away. Coupled with the initial rhetorical "halō'" (Surely not...), it results in a double negative, forcefully affirming that aid should be given. "Will he not indeed be helped?"
• וְאִם־בְּפִי שֶׁפֶל (v'im-b'fi shefel): "And if by mouth of lowliness/destruction."
  • בְּפִי (b'fi): "in the mouth of" or "with the mouth." Refers to speaking or crying out.
  • שֶׁפֶל (shefel): "lowliness," "humiliation," "abasement," "downfall," "calamity."
  • Combined Interpretation: "And when one cries out in a state of humiliation/destruction." It refers to the audible cry for help that comes from profound suffering.
• לָהֶם (lahem): "to them," "for them." This pronoun presents significant interpretive difficulty, as its antecedent is unclear. Many scholars suggest a scribal error or unusual usage here, possibly originally intended as "לוֹ" (lo, "to him") or as a plural of majesty or emphasis, though less common in this context. Its presence can imply that the cry for help is directed to others (plural, like his "friends" or mankind), or that his cry of desolation is to be heard by them. Some see it as "on account of them (the distresses)." Due to this ambiguity, modern translations often rephrase or omit it for clarity.
• כִּי יִשַּׁוַע (ki yishawa): "surely he cries for help," "when he cries out for help." The verb means "to cry out for help" or "to plead." This reinforces the preceding phrase, clearly stating the act of seeking deliverance in distress.

Job 30 24 Bonus section

The deep textual difficulties of Job 30:24 might be intentional, mirroring Job's confused and disordered state of mind. His reality has become illogical, and so too does his speech sometimes reflect that disruption, particularly in moments of extreme pain. The question of whether the "hand" (yad) is stretched out by the ruined person (seeking help) or to the ruined person (offering help) encapsulates the core tension: is Job complaining that he, as a ruined man, cannot even stretch out his hand for help, or that even if he does, no one reaches out to him? Both are valid interpretations reflecting Job's total despair. The repeated rhetorical negatives common in Job’s laments amplify his protest against his perceived injustice and highlight the tragic irony that he, the just and merciful one, receives no mercy in return.

Job 30 24 Commentary

Job 30:24 distills the agony of Job's undeserved suffering into a powerful rhetorical question, revealing his profound sense of abandonment and his challenge to accepted norms of compassion. He poses a paradox: Is it not true that even to one completely ruined, reduced to nothing, or suffering a devastating fall, help should be offered? And should not a desperate cry from a place of deepest degradation evoke a merciful response? Job implicitly asserts that such basic empathy is a given among humans and, by extension, should be a characteristic of God. His experience, however, flies in the face of this. Despite his own "ruin" (physical decay, social ostracization, spiritual torment), he finds no outstretched hand of human comfort or divine solace. This verse highlights the profound disjuncture between Job’s theological expectations based on divine character and human decency, and his lived reality of profound, unexplained, and unrelieved suffering. It serves as a plea for the very pity he had shown others (Job 29), but which is now denied him by his friends and seemingly by God himself. The verse forces contemplation on the nature of suffering, the presence or absence of compassion in trials, and the cries that rise from utter helplessness—whether they are heard or ignored by heaven and earth.