I cry to you, and you do not answer me. I stand up, and you gaze at me.
Parallel Translations
-
I cry to you, and you do not answer me. I stand up, and you gaze at me.
-
I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not.
-
I cry unto Thee, and Thou dost not answer me; I stand up, and Thou lookest at me.
Cross-references (7)
Passages linked to Job 30:20 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Job 19:7 “Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard. I cry for help, but there is no justice.
- Psalms 22:2 My God, I cry in the daytime, but you don’t answer; in the night season, and am not silent.
- Psalms 80:4-5 Yahweh God of Armies, how long will you be angry against the prayer of your people? You have fed them with the bread of tears, and given them tears to drink in large measure.
- Lamentations 3:8 Yes, when I cry, and call for help, he shuts out my prayer.
- Job 27:9 Will God hear his cry when trouble comes on him?
- Lamentations 3:44 You have covered yourself with a cloud, so that no prayer can pass through.
- Matthew 15:23 But he answered her not a word. His disciples came and begged him, saying, “Send her away; for she cries after us.”
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (16 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Job 30:20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost…
Job 30:20 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me [not].
Ver. 20. I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me] This was a sore trial, that God should cast him into straits, and there leave him. His enemies indeed he usually dealeth so by, Eze 22:20; Eze 29:5, but not by his servants, Heb 13:5. Or if he do leave them, yet he will not forsake them. The mother leaves her child sometimes, but when he setteth up his note and crieth lustily, she hasteneth to help him. So doth God: but now Job cried unto him, and was not heard or answered, to his thinking at least, and that was a great cut to him, as Psa 22:2.
Read full note →
I stand up] sc. To make supplication to my judge, as Haman stood up to make request for his life, Est 7:7, as the publican stood and prayed, Luk 18:13, and as Moses and Samuel are supposed to stand before God in prayer for their people, Jer 15:1. Hence that proverb among the Jews, Absque stationibus, non staret mundus, Did not the saints stand in prayer, the world could not stand.
And thou regardest me not] This was but a mistake in Job, for the eyes of the Lord are upon the righteous, and his ears are open to their prayers. Only God answereth our prayer, non secundum voluntatem, tamen ad utilitatem. Not always or as soon as we would, but doth that which is better for us, and takes it ill to be misconstrued, as he was by Job; witness the next words, bloody words indeed, and not far from blasphemy. Accusat ergo Iob Dominum mendacii (Brent.). Contumeliosus videri potest (Merl.).
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 Thou dost not hear me, to wit, so as…
Thou dost not hear me, to wit, so as to answer or help me.
I stand up, or, I stand, to wit, before thee, i.e. I pray, as this phrase signifies, Jer 15:1; 18:20, this being a gesture of prayer, Mat 6:5. And so the same thing is here repeated in other words, after the manner. Or, I persist or persevere in praying; I pray importunately and continually, as thou requirest.
Read full note →
Thou regardest me not; so the particle not is supplied out of the former clause. Or without the negation, thou knowest or observest me, and all my griefs and cries, and yet dost not pity nor help me, but rather takest pleasure in the contemplation of my calamities, as the following words imply. Or it may be taken interrogatively, Dost thou regard me? i.e. thou dost not.
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 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear…
I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me,.... Which added greatly to his affliction, that though he cried to the Lord for help and deliverance, yet he turned a deaf ear to him; and though he heard him, as undoubtedly he did, he did not answer him immediately; at least not in the way in which he desired and expected he would: crying is expressive of prayer, and supposes distress, and denotes vehemence of spirit:
I stand up; in prayer, standing being a prayer gesture, as many observe from Jer 15:1; See Gill on Mat 6:5; or he persisted in it, he continued praying, was incessant in it, and yet could obtain no answer; or this signifies silence, as some (f) interpret it; he cried, and then ceased, waiting for an answer; but whether he prayed, or whether he was silent, it was the same thing:
Read full note →
and thou regardest me not; the word "not" is not in this clause, but is repeated from the preceding, as it is by Ben Gersom and others; but some read it without it, and give the sense either thus, thou considerest me whether it is fit to receive my prayer or not, so Sephorno; or to renew my strokes, to add new afflictions to me, as Jarchi and Bar Tzemach; or thou lookest upon me as one pleased with the sight of me in such a miserable condition, so far from helping me; wherefore it follows.
(f) Jarchi, Ben Gersom, and Bar Tzemach.
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 I stand - I pray importunately and continually.
I stand - I pray importunately and continually.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 20. I cry unto thee] I am persecuted…
Verse 20. I cry unto thee] I am persecuted by man, afflicted with sore disease, and apparently forsaken of God.
I stand up] Or, as some translate, "I persevere, and thou lookest upon me." Thou seest my desolate, afflicted state; but thine eye doth not affect thy heart. Thou leavest me unsupported to struggle with my adversities.
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 30:20-21. Thou dost not hear me — Namely,…
Job 30:20-21. Thou dost not hear me — Namely, so as to answer or help me. I stand up — Namely, before thee: I pray importunately and continually, as thou requirest; and thou regardest me not — Notwithstanding all my griefs and cries, thou dost not pity and help me, but rather seemest to take pleasure in beholding my calamities, as the following words imply; Thou art become cruel to me — Hebrew, תהפךְ, tehapheck, Thou art turned to be cruel, as if thou hadst changed thy very nature; which is kind, merciful, and gracious; and such thou hast formerly been in thy carriage to me; but now thou art grown severe, rigorous, and inexorable. Thou opposest thyself against me — Thy power, wherewith I expected that thou wouldest have supported me under my troubles, thou usest against me.
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 I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear…
I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me - This was a complaint which Job often made, that he could not get the ear of God; that his prayer was not regarded, and that he could not get his cause before him; compare Job 13:3, Job 13:19 ff, and Job 27:9.
I stand up - Standing was a common posture of prayer among the ancients; see Heb 11:21; 1Ki 8:14, 1Ki 8:55; Neh 9:2. The meaning is, that when Job stood up to pray, God did not regard his prayer.
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 Not is supplied by Protestants in the second part…
Not is supplied by Protestants in the second part of the verse from the first; (Haydock) as this construction is not unusual in the Hebrew. Septuagint, "they have stood up, and have considered me," (Calmet) to procure my entire ruin. (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 stand up--the reverential attitude of a suppliant before a…
stand up--the reverential attitude of a suppliant before a king (Kg1 8:14; Luk 18:11-13).
not--supplied from the first clause. But the intervening affirmative "stand" makes this ellipsis unlikely. Rather, as in Job 16:9 (not only dost thou refuse aid to me "standing" as a suppliant, but), thou dost regard me with a frown: eye me sternly.
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 20. Hear — Rather, answer. Regardest me (omit not)…
20. Hear — Rather, answer. Regardest me (omit not) — Job takes the reverential attitude of a suppliant, and God looks upon him calmly and pitilessly.
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 20. This verse reads,
20. This verse reads,
I cry unto thee and thou dost not hear me,
Read full note →
I stand up, and thou lookest at me.
The second clause describes Job’s importunity in his appeal, but the only reply is that God “looketh” at him, i. e. with silent indifference, or in stern severity.
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.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (20) Thou regardest me not.—The Authorised Version understands that…
(20) Thou regardest me not.—The Authorised Version understands that the negative of the first clause must be supplied in the second, as is the case in Psa_9:18 : “The needy shall not always be forgotten; the expectation of the poor shall not perish for ever.” Others understand it, “I stand up (i.e., to pray) in the attitude of prayer, and Thou lookest at me,” i.e., and doest no more with mute indifference.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear…
I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me. It is the worst of all calamities to be God-forsaken, as Job believed himself to be, because he had no immediate answer to his prayers. The bitterest cry upon the cross was "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" But no good man is ever really God-forsaken, and no rightful and earnest prayers are ever really unheard. Job "had need of patience", (Heb_10:36) patient as he was. (Jam_5:11) He should have trusted God more, and complained less. I stand up, and thou regardest me not; rather, I stand up, as the manner of the Jews usually was in prayer, (Luk_18:11) and thou lookest at me (see the Revised Version). Job"s complaint is that, when he stands up and stretches out his hands to God in prayer, God simply looks on, does nothing, gives him no help.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain I cry unto Thee, and Thou dost not hear…
Job_30:20
I cry unto Thee, and Thou dost not hear me.
Read full note →
Unanswered prayer
1. There is no state so low but a godly man may have a freedom with God in prayer. Though a poor soul be in the mire, though he be but dust and ashes, yet he hath access to the throne of grace.
2. It is our duty to pray most, and usually we pray best, when it is worst with us; when we are nigh the mire and dust, prayer is not only most seasonable, but most pure.
3. Affliction provokes a soul to pray to the utmost, to pray not only in sincerity, but with fervency, not only to pray with faith, but with a holy passion, or passionately.
4. When prayer is sent out with a cry to God in affliction, it is a wonder if it be not presently heard.
5. Not to be heard in a day of trouble and affliction is more troublesome to a gracious heart than all his afflictions. Job thought he was not heard, because he had not present deliverance; and in that sense, indeed, he was not heard. And thus many of the saints may pray and not be heard; that is, they may pray, and not have present deliverance. How may we know that we are heard at any time?
(1) By the quietness of our spirits.
(2) Though we receive not the mercy presently, yet if we receive fresh strength to bear the want of it, that is an answer.
(3) We are answered when, though the evil be not removed, yet we have faith and patience to wait and tarry the Lords leisure for the removal of it.
(4) He is answered in prayer that is more heavenly, or more in heaven after prayer. He that is edified in his holy faith, hath certainly prayed in the Holy Ghost, and, sure enough, every such prayer is heard. Godly men are always heard of God, yet they often think that they are not heard. (Joseph Caryl.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 This word means unkind.
cruel
This word means unkind.
Read full note →
with the strength of your hand you persecute me
The word "hand" represents God's power. AT: "you persecute me with your power" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
power
hand
persecute
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 30:20-21 you don’t answer: This was Job’s frequent complaint…
30:20-21 you don’t answer: This was Job’s frequent complaint (9:16; 19:7; 23:2-9; 31:35), which God soon answered (38:1).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.