Job 30:26

King James Version

When I looked for good, then evil came unto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.

Parallel Translations

New Living Translation
So I looked for good, but evil came instead. I waited for the light, but darkness fell.

English Revised Version
When I looked for good, then evil came; and when I waited for light, there came darkness.

Update Bible Version
When I looked for good, then evil came; And when I waited for light, there came darkness.

New Century Version
But when I hoped for good, only evil came to me; when I looked for light, darkness came.

New English Translation
But when I hoped for good, trouble came; when I expected light, then darkness came.

Webster's Bible Translation
When I looked for good, then evil came: and when I waited for light, there came darkness.

World English Bible
When I looked for good, then evil came; When I waited for light, there came darkness.

Amplified Bible
"When I expected good, then came evil [to me]; And when I waited for light, then came darkness.

English Standard Version
But when I hoped for good, evil came, and when I waited for light, darkness came.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Y abood goodis, and yuelis ben comun to me; Y abood liyt, and derknessis braken out.

Berean Standard Bible
But when I hoped for good, evil came; when I looked for light, darkness fell.

Contemporary English Version
But when I beg for relief and light, all I receive are disaster and darkness.

American Standard Version
When I looked for good, then evil came; And when I waited for light, there came darkness.

Bible in Basic English
For I was looking for good, and evil came; I was waiting for light, and it became dark.

Complete Jewish Bible
Yet when I hoped for good, what came was bad; when I expected light, what came was darkness.

Darby Translation
For I expected good, and there came evil; and I waited for light, but there came darkness.

Easy-to-Read Version
But when I hoped for good, trouble came instead. When I looked for light, darkness came.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
Yet, when I looked for good, there came evil; and when I waited for light, there came darkness.

King James Version (1611)
When I looked for good, then euill came vnto mee: and when I waited for light, there came darkenes.

New Life Bible
When I expected good, then trouble came. When I waited for light, darkness came.

New Revised Standard
But when I looked for good, evil came; and when I waited for light, darkness came.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Yet when I looked for good, euill came vnto me: and when I waited for light, there came darkenesse.

George Lamsa Translation
But when I looked for good, evil came; and when I waited for light, there came darkness.

Good News Translation
I hoped for happiness and light, but trouble and darkness came instead.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Surely, for good, I looked, but there came in evil, And I waited for light, but there came in darkness;

Douay-Rheims Bible
I expected good things, and evils are come upon me: I waited for light, and darkness broke out.

Revised Standard Version
But when I looked for good, evil came; and when I waited for light, darkness came.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Yet neuerthelesse, where as I loked for good, euyll came vnto me: & where I wayted for light, there came darkenesse.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
But I, when I waited for good things, behold, days of evils came the more upon me.

Christian Standard Bible®
But when I hoped for good, evil came;when I looked for light, darkness came.

Hebrew Names Version
When I looked for good, then evil came; When I waited for light, there came darkness.

Lexham English Bible
Indeed, I hoped for good, but evil came, and I waited for light, but darkness came.

Literal Translation
When I looked for good, then evil came; and when I waited for light, then darkness came.

Young's Literal Translation
When good I expected, then cometh evil, And I wait for light, and darkness cometh.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Yet neuerthelesse where as I loked for good, euell happened vnto me: and where as I waited for light, there came darcknesse.

New American Standard Bible
"When I expected good, evil came; When I waited for light, darkness came.

New King James Version
But when I looked for good, evil came to me; And when I waited for light, then came darkness.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"When I expected good, then evil came; When I waited for light, then darkness came.

Legacy Standard Bible
When I hoped for good, then evil came;When I waited for light, then thick darkness came.

Contextual Overview

¹⁵ Terrors are turned upon me: they pursue my soul as the wind: and my welfare passeth away as a cloud. ¹⁶ And now my soul is poured out upon me; the days of affliction have taken hold upon me. ¹⁷ My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest. ¹⁸ By the great force of my disease is my garment changed: it bindeth me about as the collar of my coat. ¹⁹ He hath cast me into the mire, and I am become like dust and ashes. ²⁰ I cry unto thee, and thou dost not hear me: I stand up, and thou regardest me not. ²¹ Thou art become cruel to me: with thy strong hand thou opposest thyself against me. ²² Thou liftest me up to the wind; thou causest me to ride upon it, and dissolvest my substance. ²³ For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the house appointed for all living. ²⁴ Howbeit he will not stretch out his hand to the grave, though they cry in his destruction.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

When I looked: Job 3:25, Job 3:26, Job 29:18, Jeremiah 8:15, Jeremiah 14:19, Jeremiah 15:18, Micah 1:12

light: Job 18:6, Job 18:18, Job 23:17, Psalms 97:11, Isaiah 50:10

Reciprocal: Job 3:9 - look for light Psalms 30:7 - thou Psalms 42:9 - why go Isaiah 59:9 - we wait Lamentations 3:2 - brought

Cross-References

Genesis 29:30
And he went in also unto Rachel, and he loved also Rachel more than Leah, and served with him yet seven other years.

Genesis 30:19
And Leah conceived again, and bare Jacob the sixth son.

Genesis 30:20
And Leah said, God hath endued me with a good dowry; now will my husband dwell with me, because I have born him six sons: and she called his name Zebulun.

Genesis 30:29
And he said unto him, Thou knowest how I have served thee, and how thy cattle was with me.

Genesis 30:30
For it was little which thou hadst before I came, and it is now increased unto a multitude; and the Lord hath blessed thee since my coming: and now when shall I provide for mine own house also?

Genesis 30:38
And he set the rods which he had pilled before the flocks in the gutters in the watering troughs when the flocks came to drink, that they should conceive when they came to drink.

Genesis 30:41
And it came to pass, whensoever the stronger cattle did conceive, that Jacob laid the rods before the eyes of the cattle in the gutters, that they might conceive among the rods.

Genesis 31:6
And ye know that with all my power I have served your father.

Genesis 31:26
And Laban said to Jacob, What hast thou done, that thou hast stolen away unawares to me, and carried away my daughters, as captives taken with the sword?

Genesis 31:31
And Jacob answered and said to Laban, Because I was afraid: for I said, Peradventure thou wouldest take by force thy daughters from me.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

When I looked for good,.... As he thought he might reasonably expect it, since he had shown such a sympathizing spirit to persons in trouble, and such pity and mercy to the poor: in the time of his prosperity, he looked for a continuance of the good things he enjoyed, and expected to have had them for many years to come, and to have died in the possession of them, Job 29:18; and even in his adversity, though he had received evil things at the hand of God, which he took patiently; yet at first he did not think they would always continue, but that there would be a turn of affairs, and he should again receive good at his hands; and he had been looking for it, as good men have reason to expect it; since God is good and does good, and especially to his own people, and has laid up goodness for them that fear him, and such an one Job was; and has promised good things unto them, both temporal and spiritual; for godliness and godly men have the promise of this life, and of that which is to come: but Job was disappointed in his expectation; for, says he,

then evil came [unto me], the evil of affliction, one upon the back of another, even when in the height of his prosperity; and since repeated evil, new afflictions, came upon him by the appointment, order, and direction of God:

and when I waited for light; for the light of outward prosperity, such as he had formerly enjoyed; and for the light of God's countenance, which he most earnestly sought after, and longed for, and was in a waiting posture for it, as good men have reason to be; since light is sown for them in the purposes and decrees of God, in his counsel and covenant, in his Gospel, and the promises of it; and therefore should wait for the springing of it up, as the husbandman does for the springing up of the corn sown in the earth, and lying under the clods; and seeing that to the upright there arises light in darkness; and though God hides his face from them, for a moment, he will have mercy on them, and therefore should wait his time to be gracious to them; but Job had waited long, and, as he thought, to no purpose: for

there came darkness; the darkness of adversity, still thicker and darker, and no appearance of spiritual light and favour, or any discoveries of the love of God to him, or enjoyment of his presence; see Jeremiah 8:15.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

When I looked for good - When I supposed that respect would be shown me; or when I looked forward to an honored old age. I expected to be made happy and prosperous through life, as the result of my uprightness and benevolence; but, instead of that, calamity came and swept all my comforts away. He experienced the instability which most people are called to experience, and the divine dealings with him showed that no reliance could be placed on confident plans of happiness in this life.