Job 30:20

THE MESSAGE

"I shout for help, God, and get nothing, no answer! I stand to face you in protest, and you give me a blank stare! You've turned into my tormenter— you slap me around, knock me about. You raised me up so I was riding high and then dropped me, and I crashed. I know you're determined to kill me, to put me six feet under.

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
I cry out to you for help, but you do not answer me;when I stand up, you merely look at me.

Hebrew Names Version
I cry to you, and you do not answer me. I stand up, and you gaze at me.

King James Version
I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not.

English Standard Version
I cry to you for help and you do not answer me; I stand, and you only look at me.

New Century Version
"I cry out to you, God, but you do not answer; I stand up, but you just look at me.

New English Translation
I cry out to you, but you do not answer me; I stand up, and you only look at me.

Amplified Bible
"I cry to You for help, [Lord,] but You do not answer me; I stand up, but You [only] gaze [indifferently] at me.

New American Standard Bible
"I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer me; I stand up, and You turn Your attention against me.

World English Bible
I cry to you, and you do not answer me. I stand up, and you gaze at me.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Whe I cry vnto thee, thou doest not heare me, neither regardest me, when I stand vp.

Legacy Standard Bible
I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer me;I stand up, and You carefully consider how to be against me.

Berean Standard Bible
I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer; when I stand up, You merely look at me.

Contemporary English Version
I beg God for help, but there is no answer; and when I stand up, he simply stares.

Complete Jewish Bible
"I call out to you [God], but you don't answer me; I stand up to plead, but you just look at me.

Darby Translation
I cry unto thee, and thou answerest me not; I stand up, and thou lookest at me.

Easy-to-Read Version
"God, I cry out to you for help, but you don't answer. I stand up and pray, but you don't pay attention to me.

George Lamsa Translation
I cry to thee, and thou dost not answer me; I stand up and thou dost not consider me.

Good News Translation
I call to you, O God, but you never answer; and when I pray, you pay no attention.

Lexham English Bible
I cry to you for help, but you do not answer me; I stand, and you merely look at me.

Literal Translation
I cried to You, but You did not answer me. I stood up, and You looked at me.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Whe I crie vnto the, thou doest not heare me: & though I stonde before the, yet thou regardest me not.

American Standard Version
I cry unto thee, and thou dost not answer me: I stand up, and thou gazest at me.

Bible in Basic English
You give no answer to my cry, and take no note of my prayer.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
I cry unto Thee, and Thou dost not answer me; I stand up, and Thou lookest at me.

King James Version (1611)
I crie vnto thee, and thou doest not heare me: I stand vp, and thou regardest me not.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
When I crie vnto thee, thou doest not heare me: and though I stande before thee, yet thou regardest me not.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And I have cried to thee, but thou hearest me not: but they stood still, and observed me.

English Revised Version
I cry unto thee, and thou dost not answer me: I stand up, and thou lookest at me.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Y schal cry to thee, and thou schalt not here me; Y stonde, and thou biholdist not me.

Update Bible Version
I cry to you, and you do not answer me: I stand up, and you gaze at me.

Webster's Bible Translation
I cry to thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me [not].

New King James Version
"I cry out to You, but You do not answer me; I stand up, and You regard me.

New Living Translation
"I cry to you, O God, but you don't answer. I stand before you, but you don't even look.

New Life Bible
I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer me. I stand up, and You turn away from me.

New Revised Standard
I cry to you and you do not answer me; I stand, and you merely look at me.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
I cry out for help unto thee, and thou dost not answer, I stand still, and thou dost gaze at me;

Douay-Rheims Bible
I cry to thee, and thou hearest me not: I stand up, and thou dost not regard me.

Revised Standard Version
I cry to thee and thou dost not answer me; I stand, and thou dost not heed me.

Young's Literal Translation
I cry unto Thee, And Thou dost not answer me, I have stood, and Thou dost consider me.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"I cry out to You for help, but You do not answer me; I stand up, and You turn Your attention against me.

Contextual Overview

¹⁶"And now my life drains out, as suffering seizes and grips me hard. Night gnaws at my bones; the pain never lets up. I am tied hand and foot, my neck in a noose. I twist and turn. Thrown facedown in the muck, I'm a muddy mess, inside and out. ²⁰"I shout for help, God, and get nothing, no answer! I stand to face you in protest, and you give me a blank stare! You've turned into my tormenter— you slap me around, knock me about. You raised me up so I was riding high and then dropped me, and I crashed. I know you're determined to kill me, to put me six feet under. ²⁴"What did I do to deserve this? Did I ever hit anyone who was calling for help? Haven't I wept for those who live a hard life, been heartsick over the lot of the poor? But where did it get me? I expected good but evil showed up. I looked for light but darkness fell. My stomach's in a constant churning, never settles down. Each day confronts me with more suffering. I walk under a black cloud. The sun is gone. I stand in the congregation and protest. I howl with the jackals, I hoot with the owls. I'm black-and-blue all over, burning up with fever. My fiddle plays nothing but the blues; my mouth harp wails laments."

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

I cry: Job 19:7, Job 27:9, Psalms 22:2, Psalms 80:4, Psalms 80:5, Lamentations 3:8, Lamentations 3:44, Matthew 15:23

Reciprocal: Job 35:13 - regard

Cross-References

Genesis 30:15
Leah said, "Wasn't it enough that you got my husband away from me? And now you also want my son's mandrakes?" Rachel said, "All right. I'll let him sleep with you tonight in exchange for your son's love-apples."

Genesis 35:23
God spoke to Jacob: "Go back to Bethel. Stay there and build an altar to the God who revealed himself to you when you were running for your life from your brother Esau." Jacob told his family and all those who lived with him, "Throw out all the alien gods which you have, take a good bath and put on clean clothes, we're going to Bethel. I'm going to build an altar there to the God who answered me when I was in trouble and has stuck with me everywhere I've gone since." They turned over to Jacob all the alien gods they'd been holding on to, along with their lucky-charm earrings. Jacob buried them under the oak tree in Shechem. Then they set out. A paralyzing fear descended on all the surrounding villages so that they were unable to pursue the sons of Jacob. Jacob and his company arrived at Luz, that is, Bethel, in the land of Canaan. He built an altar there and named it El-Bethel (God-of-Bethel) because that's where God revealed himself to him when he was running from his brother. And that's when Rebekah's nurse, Deborah, died. She was buried just below Bethel under the oak tree. It was named Allon-Bacuth (Weeping-Oak). God revealed himself once again to Jacob, after he had come back from Paddan Aram and blessed him: "Your name is Jacob (Heel); but that's your name no longer. From now on your name is Israel (God-Wrestler)." God continued, I am The Strong God. Have children! Flourish! A nation—a whole company of nations!— will come from you. Kings will come from your loins; the land I gave Abraham and Isaac I now give to you, and pass it on to your descendants. And then God was gone, ascended from the place where he had spoken with him. Jacob set up a stone pillar on the spot where God had spoken with him. He poured a drink offering on it and anointed it with oil. Jacob dedicated the place where God had spoken with him, Bethel (God's-House). They left Bethel. They were still quite a ways from Ephrath when Rachel went into labor—hard, hard labor. When her labor pains were at their worst, the midwife said to her, "Don't be afraid—you have another boy." With her last breath, for she was now dying, she named him Ben-oni (Son-of-My-Pain), but his father named him Ben-jamin (Son-of-Good-Fortune). Rachel died and was buried on the road to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem. Jacob set up a pillar to mark her grave. It is still there today, "Rachel's Grave Stone." Israel kept on his way and set up camp at Migdal Eder. While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went and slept with his father's concubine, Bilhah. And Israel heard of what he did. There were twelve sons of Jacob. The sons by Leah: Reuben, Jacob's firstborn Simeon Levi Judah Issachar Zebulun. The sons by Rachel: Joseph Benjamin. The sons by Bilhah, Rachel's maid: Dan Naphtali. The sons by Zilpah, Leah's maid: Gad Asher. These were Jacob's sons, born to him in Paddan Aram. Finally, Jacob made it back home to his father Isaac at Mamre in Kiriath Arba, present-day Hebron, where Abraham and Isaac had lived. Isaac was now 180 years old. Isaac breathed his last and died—an old man full of years. He was buried with his family by his sons Esau and Jacob.

Genesis 46:14
Zebulun's sons: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.

Genesis 49:13
Zebulun settles down on the seashore; he's a safe harbor for ships, right alongside Sidon.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

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 Jeremiah 15:1;

Jeremiah 15:1- :; 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:

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.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

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 Hebrews 11:21; 1 Kings 8:14, 1 Kings 8:55; Nehemiah 9:2. The meaning is, that when Job stood up to pray, God did not regard his prayer.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 30:20. 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.