Bible Strands
Job 30:5
They were banished from among men, shouted at like thieves,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Job addresses his own suffering by describing the degraded outcasts who now mock him. He places these men in a desolate landscape where they survive on wild plants and shelter in rocks.
The words — The Hebrew יְגֹרָ֑שׁוּ (ye.go.Ra.shu) literally means "they are driven away," paired with גֵּ֥ו (gev) for "community" to mark social expulsion. The phrase עָ֝לֵ֗י/מוֹ כַּ/גַּנָּֽב (on them like thieves) uses יָרִ֥יעוּ (ya.Ri.'u), meaning "people shout," to describe public contempt.
The thread — The motif of social displacement appears in Genesis 4:12, where Cain becomes a fugitive, and Daniel 4:25, where a king is driven from mankind to live with beasts. Psalm 109:10 extends this imagery to the destitute offspring of the wicked who wander as beggars.
Why it lands — The text describes outcasts living in wadis and holes, stripped of community and publicly shamed. It demands the reader acknowledge the brutal reality of social exile and the loss of dignity that accompanies it.
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
They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;)
Cross-references
- Daniel 4:25 You will be driven away from mankind, and your dwelling will be with the beasts of the field. You will feed on grass like an ox and be drenched with the dew of heaven, and seven times shall pass you by, until you acknowledge that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whom He wishes.
- Genesis 4:12 When you till the ground, it will no longer yield its produce to you. You will be a fugitive and a wanderer on the earth.”
- Psalms 109:10 May his children wander as beggars, seeking sustenance far from their ruined homes.
- Daniel 4:32 You will be driven away from mankind to live with the beasts of the field, and you will feed on grass like an ox. And seven times will pass you by, until you acknowledge that the Most High rules over the kingdom of mankind and gives it to whom He wishes.”