Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 30:27

My bowels boiled, and rested not: the days of affliction prevented me.

27. My bowels boiled ] Rather, boil.

prevented me ] i. e. are come before me, have overtaken me. The bowels are the seat of feeling; and the words “my bowels boil” describe the tumult of feelings, griefs, regrets and pains, that worked within him.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

27 30. Further details of his sufferings in his time of affliction. The tenses should be put in the present.

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

My bowels boiled – Or rather, My bowels boil – for he refers to his present circumstances, and not to the past. It is clear that by this phrase he designs to describe deep affliction. The bowels, in the Scriptures, are represented as the seat of the affections. By this is meant the upper bowels, or the region of the heart and the lungs. The reason is, that deep emotions of the mind are felt there. The heart beats quick; or it is heavy and pained; or it seems to melt within us in the exercise of pity or compassion; compare the notes at Isa 16:11. The idea here is, that the seat of sorrow and of grief was affected by his calamities. Nor was the feeling slight. His emotions he compared with agitated, boiling water. It is possible that there is an allusion here to the inflammatory nature of his disease, producing internal heat and pain; but it is more probable that he refers to the mental anguish which he endured.

The days of affliction prevented me – literally, have anticipated me – for so the word prevent was formerly used, and so it is uniformly used in the Bible; see the notes at Job 3:12; compare Psa 59:10; lxxix. 8; Psa 88:13; Psa 119:148; 1Th 4:15. There is in the Hebrew word ( qadam) the idea that days of anguish came in an unexpected manner, or that they anticipated the fulfillment of his plans. All his schemes and hopes of life had been anticipated by these overwhelming sorrows.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 27. My bowels boiled] This alludes to the strong commotion in the bowels which every humane person feels at the sight of one in misery.

Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible

My inward parts boiled without ceasing. The bowels are the seat of passion and of compassion; and therefore this may be understood, either,

1. Of his compassionate and deep sense of others miseries; which is oft expressed by bowels, as Isa 16:11; Col 3:12, and elsewhere, of which he spoke Job 30:25, to which he subjoins the contrary usage which he met with, Job 30:26. And then, in this first part of Job 30:27, he renews the mention of his compassion to others, and in the latter part he adds, by way of antithesis or opposition, that his mercy was requited with cruel afflictions. Or,

2. Of the grievousness of his troubles, which is sometimes expressed by the troubling or boiling of the bowels, or inward parts; as Lam 1:20.

Prevented me, i.e. came upon me suddenly and unexpectedly, when I promised to myself peace and prosperity, as the usual recompence which God promiseth and giveth to such as fear and please him, as I have done.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

27. bowelsregarded as theseat of deep feeling (Isa 16:11).

boiledviolently heatedand agitated.

preventedOldEnglish for “unexpectedly came upon” me, “surprised”me.

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

My bowels boiled, and rested not,…. All contained within him, his heart, lungs, and liver, in a literal sense, through a violent fever burning within him; or figuratively, being under great distress and trouble, by reason of his afflictions, outward and inward, see Jer 4:19;

the days of affliction prevented me; came sooner upon him than he thought; he did not expect the evil days to come, and the years draw nigh in which he should have no pleasure, until he was more advanced in years, and the time of his dissolution was at hand; they came at once, and unawares, upon him, when he looked not for them: some render the word “met me” o, unexpectedly; or rather, they “rushed upon me” p, in an hostile way; came in troops, and invaded and surrounded him, see

Job 19:12.

o “occurrerunt mihi”, Piscator, Cocceius. p “Incursarunt me”, Schultens.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(27) My bowels boiled.The sense is better expressed by the present, My bowels boil, and rest not. Days of affliction have overtaken me unawares. (See last verse.)

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

27. Bowels According to the Oriental ideas, the seat of deep and noble feelings and emotions. Barnes thinks Job means “the upper bowels, or the region of the heart and the lungs.” In Isa 16:11, deep feeling for others calls forth from within responsive notes, like those of the harp touched by the plectrum. South Sea Islanders “call compassion a bleating of the bowels.” Forster.

Prevented Have overtaken.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments