Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 30:11
Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.
11. Job 30:11 is very variously understood; it may mean,
For they have loosed their rein and humbled me,
They have cast off the bridle before me.
So taken, the two clauses have much the same meaning, each being a figurative manner of saying that the low rabble have cast off all restraint, and subject the sufferer to painful humiliations. The verb in the first clause is sing., but may distribute to each the conduct of the whole. Others, however, make the subject to be God, rendering: Because he has loosed his rein and humbled me, they also have cast off the bridle before me (A. V.). There is nothing, however, to indicate such an antithesis between two different subjects in the two clauses. Another reading gives my rein or cord (A. V.), but no help comes from adopting this.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
11 14. Further description of the outrageous insults of these base outcasts.
Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges
Because he hath loosed my cord – According to this translation, the reference here is to God, and the sense is, that the reason why he was thus derided and contemned by such a worthless race was, that God had unloosened his cord. That is, God had rendered him incapable of vindicating himself, or of inflicting punishment. The figure, according to this interpretation, is taken from a bow, and Job means to say that his bow was relaxed, his vigor was gone, and they now felt that they might insult him with impunity. But instead of the usual reading in the Hebrew text yithriy – my nerve, another reading yithriv – his nerve, is found in the qeri (margin). This reading has been adopted in the text by Jahn, and is regarded as genuine by Rosenmuller, Umbreit, and Noyes. According to this, the meaning is, that the worthless rabble that now treated him with so much contempt, had relaxed all restraint, and they who had hitherto been under some curb, now rushed upon him in the most unbridled manner. They had cast off all restraint arising from respect to his rank, standing, moral worth, and the dread of his power, and now treated him with every kind of indignity.
And afflicted me – By the disrespect and contempt which they have evinced.
They have also let loose the bridle before me – That is, they have cast off all restraint – repeating the idea in the first member of the verse.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
Verse 11. Because he hath loosed my cord] Instead of yithri, my cord, which is the keri or marginal reading, yithro, his cord, is the reading of the text in many copies; and this reading directs us to a metaphor taken from an archer, who, observing his butt, sets his arrow on the string, draws it to a proper degree of tension, levels, and then loosing his hold, the arrow flies at the mark. He hath let loose his arrow against me; it has hit me; and I am wounded. The Vulgate understood it in this way: Pharetram enim suam aperuit. So also the Septuagint: ; “He hath opened his quiver.”
They have also let loose the bridle] When they perceived that God had afflicted me, they then threw off all restraints; like headstrong horses, swallowed the bit, got the reins on their own neck, and ran off at full speed.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
Because he, to wit, God, for it follows, he afflicted me, which was Gods work.
Hath loosed my cord; either,
1. He hath slackened the string (as this word sometimes signifies) of my bow, and so rendered my bow and arrows useless, either to offend others, or to defend myself, i.e. he hath deprived me of my strength or defence: so this is opposed to that expression, Job 29:20. Or,
2. He hath taken away from me that power and authority wherewith, as with a cord, I bound them to the good behaviour, and kept them within their bounds. The like expression is used in the same sense Job 15:18.
Afflicted me: when they perceived that God, who had been my faithful friend, and constant defender, had forsaken me, and was become mine enemy, they presently took this advantage of showing their malice against me.
They have also let loose the bridle; they cast off all former restraints of law, or humanity, or modesty, and gave themselves full liberty to speak or act what they pleased against me. Before me; they durst now do those things before mine eyes, which formerly they trembled lest they should come to my ears.
Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole
11. Hethat is, “God”;antithetical to “they”; English Version here followsthe marginal reading (Keri).
my cordimage from abow unstrung; opposed to Job29:20. The text (Chetib), “His cord” or”reins” is better; “yea, each lets loose his reins”[UMBREIT].
Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible
Because he hath loosed my cord,…. Not his silver cord, for then he must have died immediately, Ec 12:6; though it may be understood of the loosening of his nerves through the force of his disease, and the afflictions he endured from God and man, see
Job 30:17; or rather of the shattered state and condition of his family and substance; which, while he enjoyed, he had respect and reverence from men; but now all being loosed, scattered, and destroyed, he was treated with derision and scorn; or, better still, of his power and authority as a civil magistrate, by which, as with a cord, he bound many to subjection and obedience to him, and which commanded reverence of him; but this being now loosed and removed from him, persons of the baser sort behaved in an insolent manner towards him; there is a “Keri”, or a marginal reading of this clause, which we follow; but the “Cetib”, or written text, is “his cord”; and so Mr. Broughton renders it, “he hath loosed his string”; which he explains of the string or rein of his government, that holdeth base men from striving with the mighty, and which comes to the same sense; for the power and authority Job had as a governor were of God, and which he had now loosened; the allusion may be to the string of a bow, which being loosed, it cannot cast out the arrow; and respect may be had to what Job had said,
Job 29:20, “my bow was renewed in my hand”; it then abode in strength, and its strength was renewed; but now he had lost his power and strength, at least it was greatly weakened, that he could not defend himself, nor punish the wicked:
and afflicted me; that is, God, who is also understood in the preceding clause, though not expressed. Job’s afflictions were many, and there were second causes of them, who were the movers, instruments, and means of them, as Satan, the Sabeans and Chaldeans, yet they were of God, as the appointer, orderer, and sender of them; and so Job understood them, and always as here ascribed them to him; wherefore there was a just cause for them, and an end to be answered by them, and it became Job patiently to bear them, and to wait the issue of them: now, on this account, the above persons were emboldened and encouraged to use Job in the ill manner they did:
they have also let loose the bridle before me; the restraints that were upon them when Job was in his prosperity, and had the reins of government in his hand; these they now cast off, and showed no manner of reverence of him, nor respect for him; and the bridle that was upon their mouths, which kept them from speaking evil of him while he was in power, now they slipped it from them, and gave themselves an unbounded liberty in deriding, reproaching, and reviling him; see Ps 39:1; and this they did before him, in his presence and to his face, who before were mute and silent.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
(11) Because he hath loosed my cord.Better, his: i.e., God hath loosed the cord of his bow and they have cast off all restraint before me.
Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)
11. Loosed my cord My girdle, (Furst;) bowstring, (Dillmann;) the well-known symbol of power, or, as in Job 4:21, the cord, (Delitzsch,) like that of a tent that keeps the soul in the body. In either view God had humbled him. He forbears to mention Deity by name. They also have cast off the bridle; that is, all restraint, perhaps all sense of shame. The antitheis is obvious.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Job 30:11 Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.
Ver. 11. Because he hath loosed my cord ] i.e. God hath taken away mine authority, whereby I heretofore kept them in order, and made them more obsequious, so that now, like headstrong horses, having gotten the bit between their teeth, they run whithersoever they list, and rise up against their rider. It is God who casteth contempt upon princes, Psa 107:40 Job 12:21 , as he did upon Solomon in his old age, upon his son Rehoboam, upon Ephraim, Hos 13:1 , See Trapp on “ Hos 13:1 “ upon our Edward II, and Henry VI. Some render it, He hath loosed my bow string, in reference to Job 29:20 , so that I cannot now shoot at those that slight me. Job was disarmed and disabled to do as he desired, as Philip, king of France, was in the battle between him and Edward III, king of England, at the instant whereof there fell such a piercing shower of rain as dissolved the strings of his archers, and made their bows usefuless (Dan. Hist. f. 237).
And afflicted me
Theft have also let loose the bridle upon me
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
loosed: Job 12:18, Job 12:21, 2Sa 16:5-8
let loose: Psa 35:21, Mat 26:67, Mat 26:68, Mat 27:39-44, Jam 1:26
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
Job 30:11. Because he That is, God; hath loosed my cord Hath slackened the string of my bow, and so rendered it and my arrows useless; that is, he hath deprived me of my strength and defence: so understood, this expression is opposed to that used Job 29:20, My bow is renewed, &c. But the phrase may mean, He hath taken away from me that power and authority wherewith, as with a cord, I bound them to their good behaviour, and kept them within proper bounds. A similar expression is used in this sense Job 12:18. As, however, the word , jether, here rendered cord, also means excellence, and is so translated Gen 49:3; Job 4:21, and in other places, the sense here may be, He hath loosed, broken, or destroyed my excellence: or, as Schultens translates it, He hath stripped me of my glory. And afflicted me When they perceived that God, who had been my faithful friend and constant defender, had forsaken me and was become mine enemy, they presently took this advantage of showing their malice against me. They have also let loose the bridle They have cast off all former restraints of law, humanity, or modesty, and have given themselves full liberty to speak or act what they pleased against me: and this before me For they now dare to do those things before mine eyes which they would formerly have trembled lest they should come to my ears.
Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
30:11 Because he hath loosed my {f} cord, and afflicted me, {g} they have also let loose the bridle before me.
(f) God has taken from me the force, credit, and authority with which I kept them in subjection.
(g) He said that the young men when they saw him, hid themselves as in Job 29:8, and now in his misery they were impudent and licentious.