Job 30:31 - Clarke's commentary and critical notes on the Bible

Bible Comments

My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep. My harp also is turned to mourning - Instead of the harp, my only music is my own plaintive cries.

And my organ - What the עגב uggab was, we know not; it was most probably some sort of pipe or wind instrument. His harp, כנור kinnor, and his pipe, עגב uggab, were equally mute, or only used for mournful ditties.

This chapter is full of the most painful and pathetic sorrow; but nevertheless tempered with a calmness and humiliation of spirit, which did not appear in Job's lamentations previously to the time in which he had that remarkable revelation mentioned in the nineteenth chapter. (Job 19:25) After he was assured that his Redeemer was the living God, he submitted to his dispensations, kissed the rod, and mourned not without hope, though in deep distress, occasioned by his unremitting sufferings. If the groaning of Job was great, his stroke was certainly heavy.

Commentary on the Bible, by Adam Clarke [1831].

Job 30:31

31 My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.