Lectionary Calendar
Tuesday, August 26th, 2025
the Week of Proper 16 / Ordinary 21
Attention!
StudyLight.org has pledged to help build churches in Uganda. Help us with that pledge and support pastors in the heart of Africa.
Click here to join the effort!

Read the Bible

Amplified Bible

Job 30:31

"Therefore my lyre (harp) is used for [the sound of] mourning, And my flute for the [sound of the] voices of those who weep.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Harp;   Music;   Thompson Chain Reference - Instruments, Chosen;   Music;   Musical Instruments;   Organs;   Tears;  

Dictionaries:

- Easton Bible Dictionary - Music, Instrumental;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Harp;   Organ;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Jackal;   Job, the Book of;   Organ;   Wisdom and Wise Men;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Pipe ;   Smith Bible Dictionary - Organ;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Music;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Harp and Lyre;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
My lyre is used for mourningand my flute for the sound of weeping.
Hebrew Names Version
Therefore is my harp turned to mourning, And my pipe into the voice of those who weep.
King James Version
My harp also is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.
English Standard Version
My lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.
New Century Version
My harp is tuned to sing a sad song, and my flute is tuned to moaning.
New English Translation
My harp is used for mourning and my flute for the sound of weeping.
New American Standard Bible
"Therefore my harp is turned to mourning, And my flute to the sound of those who weep.
World English Bible
Therefore is my harp turned to mourning, And my pipe into the voice of those who weep.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Therefore mine harpe is turned to mourning, and mine organs into the voyce of them that weepe.
Legacy Standard Bible
Therefore my harp is turned to mourning,And my flute to the sound of those who weep.
Berean Standard Bible
My harp is tuned to mourning and my flute to the sound of weeping.
Contemporary English Version
My only songs are sorrow and sadness.
Complete Jewish Bible
So my lyre is tuned for mourning, my pipe to the voice of those who weep.
Darby Translation
My harp also is [turned] to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of weepers.
Easy-to-Read Version
My harp is tuned to play songs of sorrow. My flute makes sad sounds like someone crying.
George Lamsa Translation
My harp is also turned to mourning, and my song to the voice of those who weep.
Good News Translation
Where once I heard joyful music, now I hear only mourning and weeping.
Lexham English Bible
So my lyre came to be used for mourning, and my flute for the voice of those who weep.
Literal Translation
And my lyre has turned to mourning, and My flute vibrates to the sound of weeping.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
my harpe is turned to sorow, & my pipe to wepinge.
American Standard Version
Therefore is my harp turned to mourning, And my pipe into the voice of them that weep.
Bible in Basic English
And my music has been turned to sorrow, and the sound of my pipe into the noise of weeping.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
Therefore is my harp turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of them that weep.
King James Version (1611)
My harpe also is turned to mourning, and my organe into the voyce of them that weepe.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
My harpe is turned to mourning, and my organs into the voyce of them that weepe.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
My harp also has been turned into mourning, and my song into my weeping.
English Revised Version
Therefore is my harp turned to mourning, and my pipe into the voice of them that weep.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Myn harpe is turned in to morenyng, and myn orgun in to the vois of weperis.
Update Bible Version
Therefore my harp is [turned] to mourning, And my pipe into the voice of those that weep.
Webster's Bible Translation
My harp also is [turned] to mourning, and my organ into the voice of them that weep.
New King James Version
My harp is turned to mourning, And my flute to the voice of those who weep.
New Living Translation
My harp plays sad music, and my flute accompanies those who weep.
New Life Bible
So my harp is turned to sorrow, and my horn to the sound of crying.
New Revised Standard
My lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Thus is attuned to mourning - my lyre, and my flute, to the noise of them who weep.
Douay-Rheims Bible
My harp is turned to mourning, and my organ into the voice of those that weep.
Revised Standard Version
My lyre is turned to mourning, and my pipe to the voice of those who weep.
Young's Literal Translation
And my harp doth become mourning, And my organ the sound of weeping.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Therefore my harp is turned to mourning, And my flute to the sound of those who weep.

Contextual Overview

15"Terrors are turned upon me; They chase away my honor and reputation like the wind, And my prosperity has passed away like a cloud. 16"And now my soul is poured out within me; The days of affliction have seized me. 17"My bones are pierced [with aching] in the night season, And the pains that gnaw me take no rest. 18"By the great force [of my disease] my garment (skin) is disfigured and blemished; It binds about me [choking me] like the collar of my coat. 19"God has cast me into the mire [a swampland of crisis], And I have become [worthless] like dust and ashes. 20"I cry to You for help, [Lord,] but You do not answer me; I stand up, but You [only] gaze [indifferently] at me. 21"You have become harsh and cruel to me; With the might of Your hand You [keep me alive only to] persecute me. 22"You lift me up on the wind and cause me to ride [upon it]; And You toss me about in the tempest and dissolve me in the storm. 23"For I know that You will bring me to death And to the house of meeting [appointed] for all the living. 24"However, does not one falling in a heap of ruins stretch out his hand? Or in his disaster [will he not] therefore cry out for help?

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

Psalms 137:1-4, Ecclesiastes 3:4, Isaiah 21:4, Isaiah 22:12, Isaiah 24:7-9, Lamentations 5:15, Daniel 6:18

Reciprocal: Psalms 150:4 - organs Lamentations 5:14 - the young James 4:9 - let

Cross-References

Genesis 30:4
So she gave him Bilhah her maid as a [secondary] wife, and Jacob went in to her.
Genesis 30:6
Then Rachel said, "God has judged and vindicated me, and has heard my plea and has given me a son [through my maid]." So she named him Dan (He judged).
Psalms 118:8
It is better to take refuge in the LORD Than to trust in man.
Hebrews 13:5
Let your character [your moral essence, your inner nature] be free from the love of money [shun greed—be financially ethical], being content with what you have; for He has said, "I WILL NEVER [under any circumstances] DESERT YOU [nor give you up nor leave you without support, nor will I in any degree leave you helpless], NOR WILL I FORSAKE or LET YOU DOWN or RELAX MY HOLD ON YOU [assuredly not]!"

Gill's Notes on the Bible

My harp also is [turned] to mourning,.... Which he used, as David, either in religious worship, expressing praise to God thereby, or for his recreation in an innocent way; but now it was laid aside, and, instead of it, nothing was heard from him, or in his house, but the voice of mourning:

and my organ into the voice of them that weep; another instrument of music, which had its name from the pleasantness of its sound, and was of early use, being first invented by Jubal, Genesis 4:21; but not that we now so call, which is of late invention: those instruments which Job might have and use, both in a civil and in a religious way, were now, through afflictions, become useless to him, and neglected by him; or these expressions in general may signify, that, instead of mirth and joy he was wont to have, there were nothing now to be heard but lamentation and woe; see Lamentations 5:15.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

My harp also is turned to mourning - What formerly gave cheerful sounds, now gives only notes of plaintiveness and lamentation. The harp was probably an instrument originally designed to give sounds of joy. For a description of it, see the notes at Isaiah 5:12.

And my organ - The form of what is here called the organ, is not certainly known. The word עגב ûgâb is doubtless from עגב âgab, “to breathe, to blow”; and most probably the instrument hero intended was the pipe. For a description of it, see the notes at Isaiah 5:12. This instrument, also, was played, as would appear, on joyous occasions, but Job now says that it was turned to grief. All that had been joyous with him had fled. His honor was taken away; his friends were gone; they who had treated him with reverence now stood at a distance, or treated him with contempt; his health was departed, and his former appearance, indicating a station of affluence, was changed for the dark complexion produced by disease, and the instruments of joyousness now gave forth only notes of sorrow.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse Job 30:31. 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.


 
adsfree-icon
Ads FreeProfile