Job 30 · Verse 29

Job 30:29

I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.
Job 30:29, King James Version

Job 30:29 in other translations

BSBI have become a brother of jackals, a companion of ostriches.
WEBI am a brother to jackals, and a companion to ostriches.
ASVI am a brother to jackals, And a companion to ostriches.
YLTA brother I have been to dragons, And a companion to daughters of the ostrich.
DARBYI am become a brother to jackals, and a companion of ostriches.
BBEI have become a brother to the jackals, and go about in the company of ostriches.
WebsterI am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.

What does Job 30:29 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
29. dragons ... owls--rather, "jackals," "ostriches," both of which utter dismal screams (Mi 1:8); in which respect, as also in their living amidst solitudes (the emblem of desolation), Job is their brother and companion; that is, resembles them. "Dragon," Hebrew, tannim, usually means the crocodile; so perhaps here, its open jaws lifted towards heaven, and its noise making it seem as if it mourned over its fate [Bochart].

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 29 I am a brother to dragons - By my mournful and continual cry I resemble תנים tannim, the jackals or hyenas. And a companion to owls - בנות יענה benoth yaanah, to the daughters of howling: generally understood to be the ostrich; for both the jackal and the female ostrich are remarkable for their mournful cry, and for their attachment to desolate places - Dodd.

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 30:29 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.

אָ֭ח'acha brotherH251
הָיִ֣יתִיha.Yi.tiI have becomeH1961
לְתַנִּ֑יםle.ta.Nimof jackalsH8577
וְ֝רֵ֗עַve.Re.a'and a companionH7453
לִבְנ֥וֹתliv.Notof daughters ofH1323
יַעֲנָֽה\׃ya.'a.Nahan ostrichH3284

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

Cross references for Job 30:29

  • Micah 1:8

    Therefore I will wail and howl, I will go stripped and naked: I will make a wailing like the dragons, and mourning as the owls.

  • Psalms 102:6

    I am like a pelican of the wilderness: I am like an owl of the desert.

  • Malachi 1:3

    And I hated Esau, and laid his mountains and his heritage waste for the dragons of the wilderness.

  • Job 17:14

    I have said to corruption, Thou art my father: to the worm, Thou art my mother, and my sister.

  • Psalms 44:19

    Though thou hast sore broken us in the place of dragons, and covered us with the shadow of death.

  • Isaiah 38:14

    Like a crane or a swallow, so did I chatter: I did mourn as a dove: mine eyes fail with looking upward: O Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me.

  • Isaiah 13:21-22

    But wild beasts of the desert shall lie there; and their houses shall be full of doleful creatures; and owls shall dwell there, and satyrs shall dance there. And the wild beasts of the islands shall cry in their desolate houses, and dragons in their pleasant palaces: and her time is near to come, and her days shall not be prolonged.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
a brother.
17:14; Ps 102:6; Isa 13:21,22; 38:14; Mic 1:8; Mal 1:3
owls. or, ostriches.{Benoth yäânah,} in Arabic, {bintu näâmatin,} not owls, but ostriches, so called from their doleful and hideous noises. "I have often," says Dr. Shaw, "heard them groan as if they were in the greatest agonies."

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

Context

  • Job 30:28

    I went mourning without the sun: I stood up, and I cried in the congregation.

  • Job 30:29

    I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.

  • Job 30:30

    My skin is black upon me, and my bones are burned with heat.

Read all of Job 30

Job 30:29 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		He venido á ser hermano de los dragones, y compañero de los buhos.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Je suis devenu le frère des chacals et le compagnon des autruches.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Ich bin ein Bruder geworden den Schakalen, und ein Genosse den Straußen.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Frater fui draconum, et socius struthionum.