Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Job 30:29

I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.

29. The verse expands the words “I cry” in Job 30:28,

I am a brother to the jackals,

And a companion to the ostriches.

The mournful howl of the jackals is elsewhere referred to, Mic 1:8; the ostrich also sends forth a weird, melancholy cry, particularly by night; hence in ch. Job 39:13 the female ostrich receives the name of “wailer.”

Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

I am a brother to dragons – That is, my loud complaints and cries resemble the doleful screams of wild animals, or of the most frightful monsters. The word brother is often used in this sense, to denote similarity in any respect. The word dragons here ( tannyn), denotes properly a sea-monster, a great fish, a crocodile; or the fancied animal with wings called a dragon; see the notes at Isa 13:22. Gesenius, Umbreit, and Noyes, render this word here jackals – an animal between a dog and a fox, or a wolf and a fox; an animal that abounds in deserts and solitudes, and that makes a doleful cry in the night. So the Syriac renders it an animal resembling a dog; a wild dog. Castell. This idea agrees with the scope of the passage better than the common reference to a sea-monster or a crocodile. The Deeb, or Jackal, says Shaw, is of a darker color than the fox, and about the same bigness. It yelps every night about the gardens and villages, feeding upon roots, fruit, and carrion. Travels, p. 247, Ed. Oxford, 1738. That some wild animal, distinguished for a mournful noise, or howl, is meant, is evident; and the passage better agrees with the description of a jackal than the hissing of a serpent or the noise of the crocodile. Bochart supposes that the allusion is to dragons, because they erect their heads, and their jaws are drawn open, and they seem to be complaining against God on account of their humble and miserable condition. Taylor (Concord.) supposes it means jackals or thoes, and refers to the following places where the word may be so used; Psa 44:19; Isa 13:22; Isa 34:13; Isa 35:7; Isa 43:20; Jer 11:11; Jer 10:22; Jer 49:33; Jer 51:37; Lam 4:3; Mic 1:8; Mal 1:3.

And a companion to owls – Margin, ostriches. The word companion here is used in a sense similar to brother in the other member of the parallelism, to denote resemblance. The Hebrew, here rendered owls, is, literally, daughters of answering, or clamor – b^enoth yaanah. The name is given on account of the plaintive and mournful cry which is made. Bochart. Gesenius supposes, however, that it is on account of its greediness and gluttony. The name daughters of the ostrich. denotes properly the female ostrich. The phrase is, however, put for the ostrich of both sexes in many places; see Gesenius on the word yaanah; compare the notes at Isa 13:21. For a full examination of the meaning of the phrase, see Bochart, Hieroz. P. ii. L. 2. cap. xiv. pp. 218-231; see also Job 39:13-17. There can be little doubt that the ostrich is here intended, and Job means to say that his mourning resembled the doleful noise made by the ostrich in the lonely desert. Shaw, in his Travels, says that during the night they (the ostriches) make very doleful and hideous noises; which would sometimes be like the roaring of a lion; at other times it would bear a nearer resemblance to the hoarser voice of other quadrupeds, particularly of the bull and the ox. I have often heard them groan as if they were in the greatest agonies.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

Verse 29. I am a brother to dragons] By my mournful and continual cry I resemble tannim, the jackals or hyenas.

And a companion to owls.] benoth yaanah, to the daughters of howling: generally understood to be the ostrich; for both the jackal and the female ostrich are remarkable for their mournful cry, and for their attachment to desolate places.-Dodd.

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

A brother, to wit, by imitation of their cries: persons of like qualities are oft called brethren, as Gen 49:5; Pro 18:9.

To dragons; which howl and wail mournfully in the deserts, Mic 1:8, either through hunger or thirst, or when he fights with and is beaten by the elephant. To owls; whose sad and mournful noises are known. Or, ostriches; which also is noted to make lamentable outcries.

Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole

29. dragons . . . owlsrather,”jackals,” “ostriches,” both of which utterdismal screams (Mic 1:8); inwhich respect, as also in their living amidst solitudes (the emblemof desolation), Job is their brother and companion; that is,resembles them. “Dragon,” Hebrew, tannim, usuallymeans the crocodile; so perhaps here, its open jaws lifted towardsheaven, and its noise making it seem as if it mourned over its fate[BOCHART].

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

I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls. Or ostriches, as the Targum, Septuagint, Vulgate Latin, Syriac, and Arabic versions; either he was obliged to dwell with such persons as were comparable to these creatures for their devouring words, hissing noise, and venomous speeches, or for want of compassion, and for their cruelty, as David is said to be among lions, Ps 57:4; or also, he was like unto them, being solitary and alone, all his friends and acquaintance standing at a distance from him, as these creatures love lonesome and desolate places; or because of the wailing and howling noise they make, to which his mournful notes bore some resemblance,

[See comments on Mic 1:8]; or because, when these creatures cry and howl, and make a noise, no mercy is shown to them, none pities or regards them; and so it was with him; though he stood and cried in ever so public a manner, none had any compassion on him.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

(29) Dragons and owls are, according to some moderns, jackals and ostriches.

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

29. Brother See note, Job 17:14. By his cry he has become a brother to dragons, (Hebrew, tannim,) rather, jackals, whose howl is a wailing like that of a child. It begins with the setting of the sun and continues all night. Dr. Thomson speaks of a concert of jackals as the most frightful noise he ever heard. ( Land and Book, 1:113.)

Owls Literally, daughters of the ostrich. The cry of the ostrich is hideous, sometimes resembling the roar of a lion; then again, the hoarse voice of the bull. “I have often heard them groan as if they were in the greatest agonies.” Dr. Shaw, (comp. Mic 1:8.) Shakspeare borrows the imagery of this verse,

though I go alone,

Like to a lonely dragon, that his fen Makes feared.

Coriolanus, iv, sc. 1.

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

Job 30:29. I am a brother to dragons, &c. I am a brother to jackals, and a companion to ostriches. See Bochart Hieroz. lib. 2: cap. 14. The jackal and the female ostrich are both remarkable for their mournful cry, and for their inhabiting desolate places.

Fuente: Commentary on the Holy Bible by Thomas Coke

Job 30:29 I am a brother to dragons, and a companion to owls.

Ver. 29. I am a brother to dragons, &c. ] i.e. I utter a very lamentable voice, or rather noise, like dragons, which sucking the elephant’s blood till he fall down dead upon them, and quell them with his huge bulk, make a horrible howling; so horrible and hideous, say some, that they amaze, yea, kill those that hear it (Plin. Solin.).

And a companion to owls ] I give forth rude and confused cries, as if I howled with owls, or grunted with ostriches. We use to say of such, that they roar like bears and bellow like bulls, filling the air with their outcries. Young ostriches cast off by their dams, Job 39:14 Lam 4:3 , make a pitiful moan; so do the young ravens for like cause, Psa 147:9 . Job cried out more like a beast than a man, in his pain and misery. This the Stoics censured as effeminate, and would not allow a wise or valiant man to sigh, or cry, or show any token of grief, whatever befell him. But this was to destroy nature, and to transform men into stocks and stones void of sense. The patriarchs bewailed their deceased friends. David, likely, was not ignorant of the Gentile’s proverb, Weeping becometh not a king; yet he wept abundantly, yea, he out wept Jonathan. Because the better anyone is, the more inclined to weeping and lamentation, which yet must be duly moderated (Eurip. – A ).

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

a brother: Job 17:14, Psa 102:6, Isa 13:21, Isa 13:22, Isa 38:14, Mic 1:8, Mal 1:3

owls: or, ostriches, Benoth yaanah, in Arabic, bintu naamatin, not owls, but ostriches, so called from their doleful and hideous noises. “I have often,” says Dr. Shaw, “heard them groan as if they were in the greatest agonies.

Reciprocal: Deu 14:15 – General Job 13:28 – And he Job 39:13 – wings and feathers unto the Pro 18:9 – is brother Isa 59:11 – mourn

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Job 30:29. I am a brother By imitation of their cries; to dragons Which howl and wail mournfully in the deserts, (Mic 1:8,) either through hunger and thirst, or when they fight with, and are beaten by, the elephant. Persons of like qualities are often called brethren. And a companion to owls Whose doleful noises are well known: or, ostriches, as Dr. Waterland renders the word; the females of which are also remarkable for their mournful cry, and which have their habitation in desolate places.

Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

30:29 I am a brother to {u} dragons, and a companion to owls.

(u) I am like the wild beasts that desire solitary places.

Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes