For my sighing comes instead of my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water. For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.
English Standard Version (ESV)
Job isn't just saying he's sad; he's revealing that his suffering has replaced even the basic human need for food. His sighing doesn't just accompany eating, it precedes it and takes its place, highlighting how his anguish has completely consumed his ability to find sustenance or comfort.
For my sighing comes instead of my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water. For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me.
English Standard Version (ESV)
Job is in the depths of despair, lamenting the day of his birth and questioning why God allows him to suffer. He feels overwhelmed by pain and anguish, describing his constant sighs and groans as a replacement for any comfort, even the simple act of eating. This expression of his agony comes right after his desperate plea for death, highlighting his profound misery and the utter lack of relief in his life.
Imagine your greatest comfort—food—being replaced by anguish. Job describes a pain so deep that it literally usurks his ability to eat.
Job uses powerful imagery to describe how his suffering consumed him.
His Sustenance is Sorrow
Instead of the relief and pleasure of eating, Job's 'sighing' takes its place. It's not just that he's too sad to eat; his sorrow becomes his food. His physical pain and emotional distress are so overwhelming that they are the constant companions of his meals, if he can even manage to eat at all. This highlights a complete inversion of normal human experience where basic needs are overshadowed by immense suffering.
An Unending Flood of Grief
The 'groanings poured out like water' speak to the sheer volume and uncontrollable nature of his anguish. It's not a contained sob, but an outpouring, like a river overflowing its banks. This suggests a relentless, overwhelming wave of pain that washes over him, offering no respite or moment of quiet.
Job questions the very purpose of life and light when all he experiences is bitterness and pain.
Job's lament isn't just about physical suffering; it's a profound existential crisis.
The Question of Purpose
Job cries out, 'Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul?' (Job 3:20). He sees 'light' and 'life' as gifts meant for joy and well-being. When his soul is steeped in bitterness, these gifts seem cruel, mocking, and utterly pointless. He can't reconcile the presence of life with the depth of his agony.
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A Desire for Oblivion
He expresses a deep longing not for comfort or healing, but for the cessation of suffering—even death. In his despair, death seems like a release, a 'rest' that life, in its current miserable state, cannot offer. This isn't a simple wish to die, but a desperate plea to escape unbearable pain and confusion.
Understand the original words
anachah · Hebrew Noun
A deep, audible expiration of breath signaling profound sorrow, distress, or physical pain; it is a manifestation of the soul's anguish before God.
she'agah · Hebrew Noun
A deep, involuntary sound of grief or intense suffering; it denotes the outward expression of an internal state of being overwhelmed.
pachad · Hebrew Noun
A feeling of anxiety, reverence, or terror caused by the anticipation of evil or the power of God; in the righteous, it is the beginning of wisdom, but here it represents Job’s psychological torment.
pachad · Hebrew Verb
To be terrified or deeply anxious about a future event; it expresses the emotional weight of anticipating calamity or judgment.
This passage echoes Job's profound sorrow, stating 'My tears have been my meat day and night,' highlighting a shared experience where grief consumes all other needs and comforts.
Psalm 102:9Job's desperate groaning is compared to 'waters' poured out, and this Psalm also speaks of ashes being mixed with bread and tears mingled with food, showing a similar depth of suffering and despair.
Lamentations 1:20-22The prophet laments over Jerusalem's destruction, crying out 'My soul is poured out within me' and 'My heart is poured out,' mirroring Job's own overwhelming emotional state that feels like it's overflowing.
Matthew 26:38Jesus, in His deep anguish in the Garden of Gethsemane, tells His disciples 'My soul is overwhelmed with sorrow to the point of death,' revealing that even the Son of God experienced profound grief that felt like an overwhelming flood.
bensonJob 3:24: "For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters."
Job 3:24 . For my sighing cometh before I eat — Hebrew, before the face of my bread. Instead of enjoying the satisfaction of being refreshed with the common necessaries that are afforded us, and taking any pleasure in eating and drinking, which are granted for comfort as well as sustenance, my cries and tears are my meat and drink. And my roarings are poured out like the waters — So severe is my pain…
clarkeJob 3:24: "For my sighing cometh before I eat, and my roarings are poured out like the waters."
For my sighing cometh - Some think that this refers to the ulcerated state of Job's body, mouth, hands, etc. He longed for food, but was not able to lift it to his mouth with his hands, nor masticate it when brought thither. This is the sense in which Origen has taken the words. But perhaps it is most natural to suppose that he means his sighing took away all appetite, and served him in place of meat…
Job isn't just saying he's sad; he's revealing that his suffering has replaced even the basic human need for food. His sighing doesn't just accompany eating, it precedes it and takes its place, highlighting how his anguish has completely consumed his ability to find sustenance or comfort.
Job is in the depths of despair, lamenting the day of his birth and questioning why God allows him to suffer. He feels overwhelmed by pain and anguish, describing his constant sighs and groans as a replacement for any comfort, even the simple act of eating. This expression of his agony comes right after his desperate plea for death, highlighting his profound misery and the utter lack of relief in his life.
Job is in the depths of despair, lamenting the day of his birth and questioning why God allows him to suffer. He feels overwhelmed by pain and anguish, describing his constant sighs and groans as a replacement for any comfort, even the simple act of eating. This expression of his agony comes right after his desperate plea for death, highlighting his profound misery and the utter lack of relief in his life.
"For my sighing comes instead of my bread, and my groanings are poured out like water. For the thing that I fear comes upon me, and what I dread befalls me." — Job isn't just saying he's sad; he's revealing that his suffering has replaced even the basic human need for food. His sighing doesn't just accompany eating, it precedes it and takes its place, hig…
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Last reviewed October 2026