Verse-by-Verse Bible Commentary

Adam Clarke Commentary

Children of fools - Children of nabal; children without a name; persons of no consideration, and descendants of such.

Viler than the earth - Rather, driven out of the land; persons not fit for civil society.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Whole Bible

They were children of fools - The word rendered “fools” נבל nâbâl means,

(1) stupid, foolish; and

(2) abandoned, impious; compare 1 Samuel 25:3, 1 Samuel 25:25.

Here it means the worthless, the refuse of society, the abandoned. They had no respectable parentage. Umbreit, “A brood of infamy.” Coverdale, “Children of fools and villains.”

Children of base men - Margin, as in Hebrew, “men of no name.” They were men of no reputation; whose ancestors had in no way been distinguished; possibly meaning, also, that they herded together as beasts without even a name.

They were viler than the earth - Gesenius renders this, “They are frightened out of the land.” The Hebrew word (כאה ) means “to chide, to upbraid,” and then in the niphal “to be chidden away,” or “to be driven off.” The sense is, as an impious and low-born race they were driven out of the land.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible

They were children of fools,.... Their parents were fools, or they themselves were such; foolish children, or foolish men, were they that derided Job; and their derision of him was a proof of it: the meaning is not that they were idiots, or quite destitute of reason and natural knowledge, but that they were men of slender capacities; they were "Nabal like", which is the word here used of them; and, indeed, it may easily be concluded, they could not have much knowledge of men and things, from their pedigree, education, and manner of living before described; though rather this may signify their being wicked men, or children of such, which is the sense of the word "fool" frequently in the Psalms of David, and in the Proverbs of Solomon; and men may be fools in this sense, as having no understanding of divine and spiritual things, who yet have wit enough to do evil, though to do good they have no knowledge:

yea, children of base men, or "men without a name"^F19בלי שם "absque nomine", Pagninus, Montanus, Vatablus; so Beza, Mercerus, Piscator, Drusius, Michaelis, Cocceius. ; a kind without fame, Mr. Broughton renders it; an infamous generation of men, famous for nothing; had no name for blood, birth, and breeding; for families, for power and authority among men, having no title of honour or of office; nor for wealth, wisdom, nor strength, for which some have a name; but these men had no name but an ill one, for their folly and wickedness; had no good name, were of no credit and reputation with men; and perhaps, strictly and literally speaking, were without a name, being a spurious and bastardly breed; or living solitary in woods and deserts, in cliffs and caves; they belonged not to any tribe or nation, and so bore no name:

they are viler than the earth; on which they trod, and who are unworthy to tread upon it; and out of which their vile bodies were made, and yet were viler than that which is the basest of the elements, being most distant from heaven, the throne of God^F20See Weemse's Observat. Natural. c 3. ; they were not so valuable as some parts of the earth, the gold and silver, but were as vile as the dross of the earth, and viler than that; they were crushed and bruised, and "broken" more than the earth, as the word^F21נכאו "contriti", Montanus, Bolducius; so the Targum. signifies; they were as small and as contemptible as the dust of the earth and the mire of the streets, and more so; or than the men of the earth, as Aben Ezra observes, than the meanest and worst, and vilest of men: Mr. Broughton renders it, "banished from the earth"; smitten, stricken, and driven out of the land where they had dwelt, Job 30:5; whipped out of it, as some translate the word^F23"Flagellati", Schultens. , as vagabonds; as a lazy, idle, pilfering set of people, not fit to be in human society; and by such base, mean, lowly people, were Christ and his apostles ill treated; see Matthew 23:33.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

fools — that is, the impious and abandoned (1 Samuel 25:25).

base — nameless, low-born rabble.

viler than, etc. — rather, they were driven or beaten out of the land. The Horites in Mount Seir (Genesis 14:6 with which compare Genesis 36:20, Genesis 36:21; Deuteronomy 2:12, Deuteronomy 2:22) were probably the aborigines, driven out by the tribe to which Job‘s ancestors belonged; their name means troglodytae, or “dwellers in caves.” To these Job alludes here (Job 30:1-8, and Genesis 24:4-8, which compare together).

John Trapp Complete Commentary

Job 30:8 [They were] children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.

Ver. 8. They were children of fools, yea, children of base men] Homines flagitiosissimi, etiam homines ignominiosissimi afflictissimi erant, extorres, so Tremellius translateth; Naught all over they were, and nought esteemed; what wonder, therefore, if heavily afflicted and relegated? Their poverty was self-procured, and, therefore, unpitied; they had brought themselves into the briars, and also in their fathers’ iniquities they were pining away with them, Leviticus 26:39. Evil eggs they were of evil birds, nihili homunciones et inglorii, as the Tigurines translate, fellows of no fashion, and as little account, terrae filii, earth sprung mushrooms, men in whom all true wisdom was faded and decayed, sapless persons, Nabals, Nebulones.

They were viler than the earth] Terra quam ferimus, terra etiam quam terimus; or, They were smitten out of the earth, driven out of the land, sc. by me when I was in power; but now these vile varlets show themselves again, and trample upon me with the feet of pride and petulancy, Leoni mortuo vel mus insultat.

Thomas Coke Commentary on the Holy Bible

Job 30:8. They were children of fools— Foolish men and inglorious, they were driven out of the country in which they lived. Job 30:9. But now, I am become their song, &c. Houb.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible

Children of fools; either,

1. The genuine children of foolish parents; their children not only by birth, but by imitation; as they only are esteemed the children of Abraham who do the works of Abraham, John 8:39. Or,

2. Fools, by a common Hebraism, as the sons of men are put for men, and the children of wisdom for wise men, &c.

Children of base men, Heb. men without name, i.e. without any degree of credit or reputation; as men of name is put for renowned persons, Genesis 6:4.

Viler than the earth, which we tread and spit upon, and are not willing to touch.

Whedon's Commentary on the Bible

8.They were viler than the earth — Rather, They are beaten out of the land. Our aborigines furnish a parallel case.

George Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary

And not. Hebrew, "viler than the earth." (Protestants)

Mark Dunagan Commentary on the Bible

"Fools, even those without a name": Having no respectful standing in the community, "nobodies". "Acting like fools who are so debased that they do not even deserve to be given names" (Zuck p. 130). "They were scourged from the land": That is, they are the scum of society.

E.W. Bullinger's Companion Bible Notes

Children = sons.

viler than the earth = smitten or scourged out of the land.

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible - Unabridged

They were children of fools, yea, children of base men: they were viler than the earth.

Fools - i:e., the impious and abandoned (1 Samuel 25:25).

Base - Hebrew, nameless low-born rabble.

Viler than ... - rather, they were driven or beaten out [ nik

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(8) They were viler than the earth.—Rather, They are scourged out of the land, or are outcasts from the land.

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

children

2 Kings 8:18,27; 2 Chronicles 22:3; Psalms 49:10-13; Jeremiah 7:18; Mark 6:24

fools

Proverbs 1:7,22; 16:22

base men

Heb. men of no name. viler.

40:4; Psalms 15:4; Isaiah 32:6