Bible Strands
Job 30:11
Because God has unstrung my bow and afflicted me, they have cast off restraint in my presence.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Job addresses his community while cataloging his total social ruin, pinpointing the moment where divine action directly precedes the collapse of human decency toward him.
The words — The Hebrew pit-tach (he has loosened) and re-sen (halter) literally render the unstrung bow and removed restraint that enable the crowd's behavior.
The thread — This pattern of divine disarmament recurs in Job 12:18 and Job 12:21, where God loosens royal bonds and pours contempt on nobles, aligning with Ruth 1:21's declaration that God stripped away fullness and left emptiness.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to attribute the shift in human hostility directly to God's active removal of the speaker's strength and protective restraint.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Because he hath loosed my cord, and afflicted me, they have also let loose the bridle before me.
Cross-references
- Job 12:21 He pours out contempt on nobles and disarms the mighty.
- Ruth 1:21 I went away full, but the LORD has brought me back empty. Why call me Naomi? After all, the LORD has testified against me, and the Almighty has afflicted me.”
- Job 12:18 He loosens the bonds placed by kings and fastens a belt around their waists.
- 2 Samuel 16:5 As King David approached Bahurim, a man from the family of the house of Saul was just coming out. His name was Shimei son of Gera, and as he approached, he kept yelling out curses.
- Psalms 32:9 Do not be like the horse or mule, which have no understanding; they must be controlled with bit and bridle to make them come to you.
- Psalms 35:21 They gape at me and say, “Aha, aha! Our eyes have seen!”
- Matthew 26:67 Then they spit in His face and struck Him. Others slapped Him
- Matthew 27:39 And those who passed by heaped abuse on Him, shaking their heads
- James 1:26 If anyone considers himself religious and yet does not bridle his tongue, he deceives his heart and his religion is worthless.