Job 3 · Verse 24

Job 3:24

For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.
Job 3:24, King James Version

Job 3:24 in other translations

BSBI sigh when food is put before me, and my groans pour out like water.
WEBFor my sighing comes before I eat. My groanings are poured out like water.
ASVFor my sighing cometh before I eat, And my groanings are poured out like water.
YLTFor before my food, my sighing cometh, And poured out as waters are my roarings.
DARBYFor my sighing cometh before my bread, and my groanings are poured out like the waters.
BBEIn place of my food I have grief, and cries of sorrow come from me like water.
WebsterFor my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.

What does Job 3:24 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
24. 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.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 24 For my sighing cometh - Some think that this refers to the ulcerated state of Job's body, mouth, hands, etc. 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 Psa 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, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Job 3:20-26

Job was like a man who had lost his way, and had no prospect of escape, or hope of better times. But surely he was in an ill frame for death when so unwilling to live. Let it be our constant care to get ready for another world, and then leave it to God to order our removal thither as he thinks fit. Grace teaches us in the midst of life's greatest comforts, to be willing to die, and in the midst of its greatest…

Read the full comment on Job 3:20-26 →

Job 3:24 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

כִּֽי\־ki-ifH3588
לִפְנֵ֣יlif.Nei<to> beforeH6440
לַ֭חְמִיLach.mifood myH3899
אַנְחָתִ֣י'an.cha.Tigroaning myH585
תָבֹ֑אta.Vo'it comesH935
וַֽיִּתְּכ֥וּvai.yi.te.Khuand they poured forthH5413
כַ֝מַּ֗יִםkha.Ma.yimlike <the> waterH4325
שַׁאֲגֹתָֽי\׃sha.'a.go.Taicries of distress myH7581

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Job 3:24

  • Psalms 102:9

    For I have eaten ashes like bread, and mingled my drink with weeping,

  • Psalms 42:3-4

    My tears have been my meat day and night, while they continually say unto me, Where is thy God? When I remember these things, I pour out my soul in me: for I had gone with the multitude, I went with them to the house of God, with the voice of joy and praise, with a multitude that kept holyday.

  • Psalms 80:5

    Thou feedest them with the bread of tears; and givest them tears to drink in great measure.

  • Psalms 38:8

    I am feeble and sore broken: I have roared by reason of the disquietness of my heart.

  • Job 33:20

    So that his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat.

  • Psalms 32:3

    When I kept silence, my bones waxed old through my roaring all the day long.

  • Job 6:7

    The things that my soul refused to touch are as my sorrowful meat.

  • Psalms 22:1-2

    To the chief Musician upon Aijeleth Shahar, A Psalm of David. My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me? why art thou so far from helping me, and from the words of my roaring? O my God, I cry in the daytime, but thou hearest not; and in the night season, and am not silent.

  • Lamentations 3:8

    Also when I cry and shout, he shutteth out my prayer.

  • Job 7:19

    How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?

  • Isaiah 59:11

    We roar all like bears, and mourn sore like doves: we look for judgment, but there is none; for salvation, but it is far off from us.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
my sighing.
7:19; Ps 80:5; 102:9
I eat. Heb. my meat. my roarings.
Ps 22:1,2; 32:3; 38:8; Isa 59:11; La 3:8

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Job 3:23

    Why is light given to a man whose way is hid, and whom God hath hedged in?

  • Job 3:24

    For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters.

  • Job 3:25

    For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.

Read all of Job 3

Job 3:24 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Pues antes que mi pan viene mi suspiro; y mis gemidos corren como aguas.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Car mon gémissement vient avant mon pain, et mes rugissements débordent comme des eaux.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Denn gleich meinem Brote kommt mein Seufzen, und wie Wasser ergießt sich mein Gestöhn.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Antequam comedam, suspiro; et tamquam inundantes aquæ, sic rugitus meus: