Job 30:26

When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
looked	קִ֭וִּיתִי Ki.vi.ti	H6960	to bind together (perhaps by twisting) · verb, piel perfect, 1st person common singular
good	ט֣וֹב Tov	H2896	good (as an adjective) in the widest sense · adjective, masculine singular absolute
evil	רָ֑ע Ra'	H7451	bad or (as noun) evil (natural or moral) · adjective, masculine singular absolute
came	וַיָּ֣בֹא vai.Ya.vo'	H935	to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
waited	וַֽאֲיַחֲלָ֥ה va.'a.ya.cha.Lah	H3176	to wait · conjunction + verb, piel infinitive construct, 1st person common singular
light	לְ֝א֗וֹר le.'or	H216	illumination or (concrete) luminary (in every sense · preposition + noun, common feminine singular absolute
came	וַיָּ֥בֹא vai.Ya.vo'	H935	to go or come (in a wide variety of applications) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
darkness	אֹֽפֶל 'O.fel	H652	dusk · noun, common 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

Jeremiah 8:15 We looked for peace, but no good came; and for a time of health, and behold trouble!
Job 3:25-26 For the thing which I greatly feared is come upon me, and that which I was afraid of is come unto me.
Jeremiah 14:19 Hast thou utterly rejected Judah? hath thy soul lothed Zion? why hast thou smitten us, and there is no healing for us? we looked for peace,…
Job 18:6 The light shall be dark in his tabernacle, and his candle shall be put out with him.
Job 19:8 He hath fenced up my way that I cannot pass, and he hath set darkness in my paths.
Job 23:17 Because I was not cut off before the darkness, neither hath he covered the darkness from my face.
Psalms 97:11 Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart.
Isaiah 50:10 Who is among you that feareth the LORD, that obeyeth the voice of his servant, that walketh in darkness, and hath no light? let him trust in…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 30:15–end

In this second part of Job's complaint, which is very bitter, and has a great many sorrowful accents in it, we may observe a great deal that he complains of and some little that he comforts himself with. I. Here is much that he complains of. 1. In general, it was a day of great affliction and sorrow. (1.) Affliction seized him, and surprised him. It seized him (Job 30:16): The days of affliction have taken hold upon me, have caught me (so some); they have arrested me, as the bailiff arrests the debtor, claps him on the back, and secures him. When trouble comes with commission it will take fast hold, and not lose its hold. It surprised him (Job 30:27): "The days of affliction prevented me," t…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 30:26

I may be allowed to crave help, seeing that, "when I looked for good (on account of my piety and charity), yet evil," &c. light-- (Job 22:28).

John Gill on Job 30:26

When I looked for good,.... As he thought he might reasonably expect it, since he had shown such a sympathizing spirit to persons in trouble, and such pity and mercy to the poor: in the time of his prosperity, he looked for a continuance of the good things he enjoyed, and expected to have had them for many years to come, and to have died in the possession of them, Job 29:18; and even in his adversity, though he had received evil things at the hand of God, which he took patiently; yet at first he did not think they would always continue, but that there would be a turn of affairs, and he should again receive good at his hands; and he had been looking for it, as good men have reason to expect i…

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Keil & Delitzsch on Job 30:24-27

24 Doth one not, however, stretch out the hand in falling, Doth he not raise a cry for help on that account in his ruin? 25 Or have I not wept for him that was in trouble, Hath not my soul grieved for the needy? - 26 For I hoped for good, then evil came; I waited for light, and darkness came. 27 My bowels boiled without ceasing, Days of misery met me. Most of the ancient versions indulge themselves in strange fancies respecting Job 30:24 to make a translatable text, or find their fancies in the text before them. The translation of the Targum follows the fancies of the Midrash, and places itself beyond the range of criticism. The lxx reads בי instead of בעי, and finds in Job 30:24 a longing…

The Church Fathers

"I was hoping for goods. He grieves because these ills have come to him suddenly.
— Augustine of Hippo, ANNOTATIONS ON THE BOOK OF JOB (tr. J. Litteral, draft)

When I looked for good, then evil came unto me; and when I waited for light, there broke forth darkness. For the faithful people 'looks for good,' but receives evil, and it 'waits for light,' and meets with 'darkness,' because by the grace of the recompensing it hopes to be now already admitted to the joys of the Angels, and yet being delayed for a longer time here below, it is exposed to the hands of those that persecute it; and he who calculates to enjoy as quickly as possible the recompensing of the Light Eternal, is still forced to suffer here the darkness of his persecutors. Which same ills of those persecuting them would grieve them the less, if they arose from unbelievers and adversaries. But they torture the mind of the Elect the worse in proportion as they proceed from those, upon whom they were foreassuring good.
— Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book XX

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Colors · BLACK: A SYMBOL OF AFFLICTION AND — BLACK: A SYMBOL OF AFFLICTION AND

Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).

Job 30:26

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 30:15–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 30:26

John Gill on Job 30:26

Keil & Delitzsch on Job 30:24-27

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Job 30:26

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Job 30:15–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Job 30:26

John Gill on Job 30:26

Keil & Delitzsch on Job 30:24-27

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Job 30:22

Rashi on Job 30:26