They were driven forth from among men, (they cried after them as after a thief;)
Job 30:5 falls within the debate between Job and his three friends about Job's afflictions. It belongs to the poetic colloquies in which they debate the cause and purpose of human suffering. Within that debate it is part of Job's description of his former scorn and humiliation. It portrays outcasts regarded as so unwelcome that they were driven away from human society and shouted after as after a thief. That pursuit portrays their exclusion and the contemptuous suspicion directed at them.
The verse's particular image of people driven out from among others is left without further explanation. Its context teaches that suffering does not prove that a person is under God's displeasure.
Job 30:5 falls within the debate between Job and his three friends about Job's afflictions. It belongs to the poetic colloquies in which they debate the cause and purpose of human suffering. Within that debate it is part of Job's description of his former scorn and humiliation. It portrays outcasts regarded as so unwelcome that they were driven away from human society and shouted after as after a thief. That pursuit portrays their exclusion and the contemptuous suspicion directed at them.
The verse's particular image of people driven out from among others is left without further explanation. Its context teaches that suffering does not prove that a person is under God's displeasure.