Job 30:17

Night pierces ¹  my bones; ²  my gnawing pains ³  never cease.

Night pierces my bones; my gnawing pains never rest.

"At night it pierces my bones within me, And my gnawing pains take no rest.

My weary nights are filled with pain as though something were relentlessly gnawing at my bones.

Night gnaws at my bones; the pain never lets up.

The flesh is gone from my bones, and they give me no rest; there is no end to my pains.

The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.

My bones are pierced in me at night, And my gnawing pains take no rest.

Night pierces ¹  my bones; ²  my gnawing pains ³  never cease.

¹ tn The subject of the verb “pierces” can be the night (personified), or it could be God (understood), leaving “night” to be an adverbial accusative of time – “at night he pierces.”

² tc The MT concludes this half-verse with “upon me.” That phrase is not in the LXX, and so many commentators delete it as making the line too long.

³ tn Heb “my gnawers,” which is open to several interpretations. The NASB and NIV take it as “gnawing pains”; cf. NRSV “the pain that gnaws me.” Some suggest worms in the sores (7:5). The LXX has “my nerves,” a view accepted by many commentators.