For my sighing comes before I eat. My groanings are poured out like water.
Parallel Translations
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For my sighing comes before I eat. My groanings are poured out like water.
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For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.
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For my sighing cometh instead of my food, and my roarings are poured out like water.
Cross-references (11)
Passages linked to Job 3:24 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Psalms 102:9 For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mixed my drink with tears,
- Psalms 42:3-4 My tears have been my food day and night, while they continually ask me, “Where is your God?” These things I remember, and pour out my soul within me, how I used to go with the crowd, and led them to God’s house, with the voice of joy and praise, a multitude keeping a holy day.
- Psalms 80:5 You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in large measure.
- Psalms 38:8 I am faint and severely bruised. I have groaned by reason of the anguish of my heart.
- Job 6:7 My soul refuses to touch them. They are as loathsome food to me.
- Job 7:19 How long will you not look away from me, nor leave me alone until I swallow down my spittle?
- Job 33:20 so that his life abhors bread, and his soul dainty food.
- Psalms 22:1-2 My God, my God, why have you forsaken me? Why are you so far from helping me, and from the words of my groaning? My God, I cry in the daytime, but you don’t answer; in the night season, and am not silent.
- Psalms 32:3 When I kept silence, my bones wasted away through my groaning all day long.
- Isaiah 59:11 We all roar like bears and moan bitterly like doves. We look for justice, but there is none, for salvation, but it is far off from us.
- Lamentations 3:8 Yes, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Job 3:24 For my sighing cometh before I eat,…
Job 3:24 For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.
Ver. 24. For my sighing cometh before I eat] It cometh unsent for, as evil weather useth to do, and most unseasonably surpriseth me at my repast. I mingle my meat with my tears, with every bit of bread I have a morsel of sorrows; and I mingle my drink with weeping, Psa 102:9, though indeed Job’s was not so much a shower of tears as a storm of sighs, and a volley of roarings, betokening extremity of grief, such as was beyond tears, and vented itself as the noise of many waters; for my roarings, saith he, are poured out like water. I am as hungry as a lion roaring on his prey, and as violent as the torrents ranging the fields; and yet I neither have leisure nor list to eat my bread; as loth to prolong such a troublesome life, but that I must, or be guilty of self murder. Mr Fox reports of Mr John Glover, that not long after his conversion, upon a mistake of the sense of that text, Heb 6:5-6, he was strongly concerned that he had fallen into the unpardonable sin, and must necessarily therefore be damned; and in that intolerable grief of mind, although he neither had nor could have any joy of his meat, yet was he compelled to eat against his appetite, to the end to defer the time of his damnation so long as he might (Acts & Mon. 1 552). Now who can tell how near Job’s case might come to this, since the devil was both author and actor in a great part of both these tragic comedies?
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain Before I eat, Heb. before the face of my…
Before I eat, Heb. before the face of my bread, i.e. either when I am going to eat, or rather, all the time whilst I am eating, (for so this phrase is used Psa 72:5, before the face of the sun, &c.; that is, as we translate it, as long as the sun endureth,) I fall into bitter passions of sighing and weeping; partly because my necessity and duty obligeth me to eat, and so to support this wretched life, which I long to lose; and principally because of my uninterrupted pains of body, and horrors of my mind, which mix themselves with my very meat, and do not afford me one quiet moment. Compare Psa 102:9.
My roarings, i.e. my loud outcries, more befitting a lion than a man, which yet extremity of grief forceth from me. Compare Psa 22:1; 32:3.
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Like the waters, i.e. with great abundance, and irresistible violence, and incessant continuance, as waters flow in a river, or when they break the banks, and overflow the ground.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain For my sighing cometh before I eat,.... Or, "before…
For my sighing cometh before I eat,.... Or, "before my bread", or "food" (g); before he sat down to eat, or had tasted of his food, there were nothing but sighing and sobbing, so that he had no appetite for his food, and could take no delight in it; and, while he was eating, his tears mingled with it, so that these were his meat and his drink continually, and he was fed with the bread and water of affliction; and therefore what were light and life to such a person, who could not have the pleasure of one comfortable meal?
and my roarings are poured out like the waters; he not only wept privately and in secret, and cried more publicly both to God and in the presence of men, but such was the force and weight of his affliction, that he even roared out, and that like a lion; and his afflictions, which were the cause of these roarings, are compared to waters and the pouring of them out; for the noise these waterspouts made, and for the great abundance of them, and for their quick and frequent returns, and long continuance, one wave and billow rolling upon another.
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(g) "ante cibum meum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator; "ante panem meum", Cocceius, Schmidt, Michaelis.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain Before, &c. - Hebrew. before the face of my…
Before, &c. - Hebrew. before the face of my bread, all the time I am eating, I fall into sighing and weeping, because I am obliged to eat, and to support this wretched life, and because of my uninterrupted pains of body and of mind, which do not afford me one quiet moment. Roarings - My loud outcries, more befitting a lion than a man. Poured out - With great abundance, and irresistible violence, and incessant continuance, as waters flow in a river, or as they break the banks, and overflow the ground.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 24. For my sighing cometh] Some think that…
Verse 24. For my sighing cometh] Some think that this refers to the ulcerated state of Job's body, mouth, hands, c. He longed for food, but was not able to lift it to his mouth with his hands, nor masticate it when brought thither. This is the sense in which Origen has taken the words. But perhaps it is most natural to suppose that he means his sighing took away all appetite, and served him in place of meat. There is the same thought in Ps 42:3: My tears have been my meat day and night which place is not an imitation of Job, but more likely Job an imitation of it, or, rather, both an imitation of nature.
My roarings are poured out] My lamentations are like the noise of the murmuring stream, or the dashings of the overswollen torrent.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Job 3:24. For my sighing cometh before I eat…
Job 3:24. For my sighing cometh before I eat — Hebrew, before the face of my bread. Instead of enjoying the satisfaction of being refreshed with the common necessaries that are afforded us, and taking any pleasure in eating and drinking, which are granted for comfort as well as sustenance, my cries and tears are my meat and drink. And my roarings are poured out like the waters — So severe is my pain, and so great my anguish, that the agonies and outcries, which are extorted from me, are of no common sort: they are deep and noisy; hideous and frightful, and such as may be compared to the loud roarings of a lion. And though I strive, and take much pains, to check and silence them, yet I find it is to no purpose; for they force their way with irresistible violence and incessant continuance, in great abundance; like so many sudden and impetuous streams of waters, when a river breaks its banks and overflows the adjacent grounds.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain For my sighing cometh before I eat - Margin,…
For my sighing cometh before I eat - Margin, “My meat.” Dr. Good renders this,” Behold! my sighing takes the place of my daily food, and refers to Psa 42:3, as an illustration:
My tears are my meat day and night.
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So substantially Schultens renders it, and explains it as meaning, “My sighing comes in the manner of my food,” “Suspirium ad modum panis veniens” - and supposes it to mean that his sighs and groans were like his daily food; or were constant and unceasing. Dr. Noyes explains it as meaning, “My sighing comes on when I begin to eat, and prevents my taking my daily nourishment;” and appeals to a similar expression in Juvenal. Sat. xiii. 211:
Perpetua anxietas, nec mensae tempore cessat.
Rosenmuller gives substantially the same explanation, and remarks, also, that some suppose that the mouth, hands, and tongue of Job were so affected with disease, that the effort to eat increased his sufferings, and brought on a renewal of his sorrows. The same view is given by Origen; and this is probably the correct sense.
And my roarings - My deep and heavy groans.
Are poured out like the waters - That is,
(1) “in number” - they were like rolling billows, or like the heaving deep.
(2) Perhaps also in “sound” like them. His groans were like the troubled ocean, that can be heard afar. Perhaps, also,
(3.) he means to say that his groans were attended with “a flood of tears,” or that his tears were like the waves of the sea.
There is some hyperbole in the figure, in whichever way it is understood; but we are to remember that his feelings were deeply excited, and that the Orientals were in the habit of expressing themselves in a mode, which to us, of more phlegmatic temperament, may seem extravagant in the extreme. We have, however, a similar expression when we say of one that “he burst into a “flood of tears.””
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Sigh, through difficulty of swallowing, (Pineda) or sense of…
Sigh, through difficulty of swallowing, (Pineda) or sense of misery. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain my sighing cometh before I eat--that is, prevents my…
my sighing cometh before I eat--that is, prevents my eating [UMBREIT]; or, conscious that the effort to eat brought on the disease, Job must sigh before eating [ROSENMULLER]; or, sighing takes the place of good (Psa 42:3) [GOOD]. But the first explanation accords best with the text.
my roarings are poured out like the waters--an image from the rushing sound of water streaming.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 24. Before I eat — Literally, In presence of…
24. Before I eat — Literally, In presence of my bread; that is, at the same time of my eating; or, “instead of my bread.” — Hitzig. In either case the meaning is, “Sighing is my bread.” Juvenal attributes to the successful sinner “a perpetual anxiety, nor does it cease even at his hour of meal.” (Perpetua anxietas, nec mensae tempore cessat.) — Satires, 13. 211.
Roarings — Roarings, as of a lion; or since מים, waters, is sometimes used for the great deep, Job may possibly have had in mind the roaring of the sea. The figure is no stronger than ours — “a flood of tears.”
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Like the waters — In an uninterrupted flow, like water poured forth.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 24. before I eat] lit. before my meat, as…
24. before I eat] lit. before my meat, as margin. The temporal meaning of before gives no sense here. In 1Sa_1:16 the same expression occurs, “Count not thine handmaid for a daughter of Belial.” Therefore render, my sighing cometh for (instead of, or, like) my meat; it is his constant, daily food.
like the waters] Rather, like water, i. e. a broad, unbroken stream.
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25, 26, the thing which I feared] These two verses read thus,
For let me fear an evil, and it cometh upon me,
And whatsoever I dread, it overtakes me;
I have no ease, neither quiet nor rest,
But trouble cometh.
The whole passage from Job_3:20 describes Job’s present condition. The speaker says, if he but imagines an evil, if he but “fears a fear,” it is immediately upon him. The words are put hypothetically in the past tense: Have I feared a fear, it cometh upon me; but the reference cannot be to the real past, as in the English Version, because it would be contrary to the idea of the poem to suppose that Job even in the days of his golden prime was haunted with indefinite fears of coming misfortune. On the contrary the picture he gives of himself, ch. 29, shews that his piety reflected itself in a full and trustful peace of mind; see his own words ch. Job_16:12, Job_29:18 seq.
Job_3:26 means that Job has no pause between the waves of his affliction, no time to recover from one before another overwhelms him.
“Trouble” here is the fit or paroxysm of trouble.
Job’s three friends sat silent before him seven days. Then Job spake and cursed his day. His speech opened his friends’ mouths and probably also their eyes. Job’s language and demeanour were not what they would have looked for from one in his condition. His violent complaints and his indirect allusions to Heaven were not only unbecoming in themselves, but cast an unwelcome light upon his past life. Job speaks no doubt with the passion of despair and in the bitterness of his misery, and his indirect allusions to God betray impatience and are uttered with a tone of resentment, though there is as yet no direct charge of injustice against God, only an impatient demand why He continues life to one in such misery. His tone of mind is very different from that exhibited when his trials had newly befallen him or when he replied to the suggestions of his wife. And it is this tone, suggesting so much more than it expressed, that the three friends lay hold of and attach their exhortations to, and which is thus the point out of which the whole succeeding debate developes itself.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain For my sighing cometh before I eat literally, before…
For my sighing cometh before I eat literally, before my meat; i.e. "more early and more constantly than my food" (Professor Lee). And my roarings are poured out. The word translated "roaring" is used primarily of the roar of a lion; (Zec_11:3; comp. Amo_3:8) secondarily, of the loud cries uttered by men who suffer pain. (see Psa_22:1 Psa_32:4) (On the loud cries of Orientals when suffering from grief or pain, see the comment on Job_2:12) Like the waters; i.e. freely and copiously, without let or stint. Perhaps the loud sound of rushing water is also alluded to.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.