to tear up · verb, qal perfect, 3rd person common plural
path
נְֽתִיבָ֫תִ֥יne.ti.Va.Ti
H5410
a (beaten) track · noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
forward
יֹעִ֑ילוּyo.'I.lu
H3276
properly · verb, hiphil imperfect, 3rd person masculine plural
calamity
לְהַוָּתִ֥יle.ha.va.Ti
H1942
by implication · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct + pronominal suffix
helper
עֹזֵ֣ר'o.Zer
H5826
to surround · verb, qal active participle, masculine singular absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Psalms 69:26 For they persecute him whom thou hast smitten; and they talk to the grief of those whom thou hast wounded.
Isaiah 3:12 As for my people, children are their oppressors, and women rule over them. O my people, they which lead thee cause thee to err, and destroy…
Zechariah 1:15 And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease: for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Job 30:1-14
Here Job makes a very large and sad complaint of the great disgrace he had fallen into, from the height of honour and reputation, which was exceedingly grievous and cutting to such an ingenuous spirit as Job's was. Two things he insists upon as greatly aggravating his affliction: -
I. The meanness of the persons that affronted him. As it added much to his honour, in the day of his prosperity, that princes and nobles showed him respect and paid a deference to him, so it added no less to his disgrace in his adversity that he was spurned by the footmen, and trampled upon by those that were not only every way his inferiors, but were the meanest and most contemptible of all mankind. None can be…
Image of an assailed fortress continued. They tear up the path by which succor might reach me.
set forward-- (Zac 1:15).
they have no helper--Arabic proverb for contemptible persons. Yet even such afflict Job.
John Gill on Job 30:13
They mar my path,.... Hindered him in the exercise of religious duties; would not suffer him to attend the ways and worship of God, or to walk in the paths of holiness and righteousness; or they reproached his holy walk and conversation, and treated it with contempt, and triumphed over religion and godliness:
they set forward my calamity; added affliction to affliction, increased his troubles by their reproaches and calumnies, and were pleased with it, as if it was profitable as well as pleasurable to them, see Zechariah 1:15;
they have no helper; either no person of note to join them, and, to abet, assist, and encourage them; or they needed none, being forward enough of themselves to give…
13 They tear down my path,
They minister to my overthrow,
They who themselves are helpless.
14 As through a wide breach they approach,
Under the crash they roll onwards.
15 Terrors are turned against me,
They pursue my nobility like the wind,
And like a cloud my prosperity passed away. -
They make all freedom of motion and any escape impossible to him, by pulling down, diruunt, the way which he might go. Thus is נתסוּ (cogn. form of נתץ, נתע, נתשׁ) to be translated, not: they tear open (proscindunt), which is contrary to the primary signification and the usage of the language. They, who have no helper, who themselves are so miserable and despised, and yet so feelingless and overbearing, con…
The Church Fathers
"My trails are broken; They are no longer known to the righteous who know how to walk without seeking their interests, but those of Jesus Christ. "He stripped me of my dress; From my old authority, before which everything must bend. This is what happens when sins have become too numerous and have become habit. "He has wounded me with his features," with his precepts which reveal to me iniquity, without my being able to stop it.
They did away with my paths, they plotted against me, and prevailed, and there was not any to bring help. Let blessed Job tell these things of evil spirits, i.e. of secret enemies. Let the Church Universal speak them of bad men persecuting, i.e. of open adversaries. For these 'do away with her paths,' when in the souls of certain weak ones they interrupt the ways of truth by crafty persuading. These in 'plotting prevail, when those, whom they cannot openly force to evil, they turn aside by pretending what is good, but that is very wonderful, which he subjoins, And there was not any one to bring help, when the Psalmist exclaims touching the help of God; A helper in seasons, in tribulation. And, Let them hope in Thee, who know Thy Name, for Thou, Lord, wilt not forsake those that seek Thee. And when it is written again, Did ever any trust in the Lord and was confounded? or did any abide in His commandments, and was forsaken? Or whom did He ever despise, that called upon Him? On what principle, then, is it now said; And there was not any to bring help, excepting that those, whom Almighty God loves for all eternity, He sometimes leaves for a time? Whence it is written; For a small moment have I forsaken thee, and with great mercies will I gather thee. In a little wrath I hid My face from thee for a moment, and with everlasting kindness will I have mercy upon thee. Hence too the Psalmist besought, saying, O forsake me not utterly. He then knew that he might be left for a little while with advantage, who prayed that he might not be 'utterly forsaken.' For the Lord by coming helps His Saints, by 'leaving' puts them to the proof, by gifts he establishes, by tribulations he tries. Whence too it is rightly said by one of Wisdom, For at the first she will walk with him by crooked ways, and bring fear and dread upon him, and torment him with her discipline until she try him in his thoughts. Since the soul of the righteous grace calls, trial puts to the question. And Almighty God allows the adversaries of His Elect to grow to a height in time, that the life of the good may be purified by the pitilessness of the bad. Since the Lord would never suffer them to be hostile to the good except he also saw what great good they did. For whilst the unrighteous deal cruelly, the righteous are purified, and the life of the wicked is enlisted to the advantage of the innocent, in…
The series of images presented here is drawn from a military advance against a fortified city. Job had already used this image for God’s attack on him (19:10-12). • The word translated traps might refer to siege ramps raised against a city’s walls.
Rashi on Job 30:13
They break up my path Heb. נתסוּ. [My] good [path] and do not care for it. נתסוּ is like נתצוּ the “sammech” replacing the “zaddi.”
they serve to increase my calamity they continue to provoke me.
