Job 30:16

And now my soul is poured out within me; days of affliction grip me.

Berean Standard Bible

Study note

Setting — Job speaks to God and his immediate audience, charting his psychological collapse at the precise moment his former dignity and prosperity vanish (Job 30:15) and before his physical pain intensifies (Job 30:17).

The words — The verse centers on נַפְשִׁי תִשְׁתַּפֵּךְ (nafshi tishappek), literally "my soul pours itself out," and יְמֵי עֹנִי יֹאחֲזוּנִי (yemei oni yoachazu ni), literally "days of affliction seize me."

The thread — The pouring-out motif reappears in Psalms 42:4 and Job 3:24, while the physical dissolution and bone pain echo the description in Psalms 22:14.

Why it lands — The text presents Job's internal exhaustion and external oppression as simultaneous, inescapable forces rather than a sequence of events. It requires the reader to acknowledge how profound distress operates as both emotional depletion and relentless temporal pressure.

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

וְעַתָּ֗הve./'a.Tahand/ now עָ֭לַי'A.la/ion/ me תִּשְׁתַּפֵּ֣ךְtish.ta.Pekhit pours itself out נַפְשִׁ֑יnaf.Sh/ilife/ my יֹ֭אחֲז֣וּנִיyo.cha.Zu./nithey seize/ me יְמֵי־ye.mei-days of עֹֽנִי׃'O.niaffliction

King James Version

And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me.

Cross-references

Psalms 42:4 These things come to mind as I pour out my soul: how I walked with the multitude, leading the festive procession to the house of God with shouts of joy and praise.
Psalms 22:14 I am poured out like water, and all my bones are disjointed. My heart is like wax; it melts away within me.
Job 3:24 I sigh when food is put before me, and my groans pour out like water.
Psalms 40:12 For evils without number surround me; my sins have overtaken me, so that I cannot see. They are more than the hairs of my head, and my heart has failed within me.
Isaiah 53:12 Therefore I will allot Him a portion with the great, and He will divide the spoils with the strong, because He has poured out His life unto death, and He was numbered with the transgressors. Yet He bore the sin of many and made intercession for the transgressors.
1 Samuel 1:15 “No, my lord,” Hannah replied. “I am a woman troubled in spirit. I have not had any wine or strong drink, but I have poured out my soul before the LORD.