Job 30 · Verse 24

Job 30:24

Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.
Job 30:24, King James Version

Job 30:24 in other translations

BSBYet no one stretches out his hand to a ruined man when he cries for help in his distress.
WEB“However doesn’t one stretch out a hand in his fall? Or in his calamity therefore cry for help?
ASVHowbeit doth not one stretch out the hand in his fall? Or in his calamity therefore cry for help?
YLTSurely not against the heap Doth He send forth the hand, Though in its ruin they have safety.
DARBYIndeed, no prayer availeth when he stretcheth out his hand: though they cry when he destroyeth.
BBEHas not my hand been stretched out in help to the poor? have I not been a saviour to him in his trouble?
WebsterYet he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.

What does Job 30:24 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
24. Expressing Job's faith as to the state after death. Though one must go to the grave, yet He will no more afflict in the ruin of the body (so Hebrew for "grave") there, if one has cried to Him when being destroyed. The "stretching of His hand" to punish after death answers antithetically to the raising "the cry" of prayer in the second clause. Maurer gives another translation which accords with the scope of Job 30:24-31; if it be natural for one in affliction to ask aid, why should it be considered (by the friends) wrong in my case? "Nevertheless does not a man in ruin stretch out his hand" (imploring help, Job 30:20; La 1:17)? If one be in his calamity (destruction) is there not therefore a "cry" (for aid)? Thus in the parallelism "cry" answers to "stretch--hand"; "in his calamity," to "in ruin." The negative of the first clause is to be supplied in the second, as in Job 30:25 (Job 28:17).

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 24 He will not stretch out his hand to the grave - After all that has been said relative to the just translation and true meaning of this verse, is it not evident that it is in the mouth of Job a consolatory reflection? As if he said, Though I suffer here, I shall not suffer hereafter. Though he add stroke to stroke, so as to destroy my life, yet his displeasure shall not proceed beyond the grave. Though they cry in his destruction - Mr. Good translates: Surely there, in its ruin, is freedom. In the sepulcher there is freedom from calamity, and rest for the weary.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Job 30:15-31

Job complains a great deal. Harbouring hard thoughts of God was the sin which did, at this time, most easily beset Job. When inward temptations join with outward calamities, the soul is hurried as in a tempest, and is filled with confusion. But woe be to those who really have God for an enemy! Compared with the awful state of ungodly men, what are all outward, or even inward temporal afflictions? There is something…

Read the full comment on Job 30:15-31 →

Job 30:24 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.

אַ֣ךְ'akhsurelyH389
לֹא\־lo'-notH3808
בְ֭עִיVe.'ion a heap of ruinsH5856
יִשְׁלַח\־yish.lach-anyone stretches outH7971
יָ֑דYada handH3027
אִם\־'im-orH518
בְּ֝פִיד֗וֹbe.fi.Doin disaster hisH6365
לָהֶ֥ןla.Hento them
שֽׁוּעַ\׃Shu.a'a cry for helpH7769

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

Cross references for Job 30:24

  • Matthew 27:39-44

    And they that passed by reviled him, wagging their heads, And saying, Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. Likewise also the chief priests mocking him, with the scribes and elders, said, He saved others; himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. …

  • Psalms 35:25

    Let them not say in their hearts, Ah, so would we have it: let them not say, We have swallowed him up.

  • Judges 5:31

    So let all thine enemies perish, O Lord: but let them that love him be as the sun when he goeth forth in his might. And the land had rest forty years.

  • Job 19:7

    Behold, I cry out of wrong, but I am not heard: I cry aloud, but there is no judgment.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
grave. Heb. heap. they cry.
Jud 5:31; Ps 35:25; Mt 27:39-44

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

Context

  • Job 30:23

    For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living.

  • Job 30:24

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

  • Job 30:25

    Did not I weep for him that was in trouble? was not my soul grieved for the poor?

Read all of Job 30

Job 30:24 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Mas él no extenderá la mano contra el sepulcro; ¿clamarán los sepultados cuando él los quebrantare?
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Toutefois, dans sa ruine, n’étend-il pas la main, et, dans sa calamité, ne jette-t-il pas un cri de détresse?
German
Elberfelder 1871		Doch streckt man beim Sturze nicht die Hand aus, oder erhebt man bei seinem Untergang nicht darob ein Hülfsgeschrei?
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Verumtamen non ad consumptionem eorum emittis manum tuam: et si corruerint, ipse salvabis.