The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.
English Standard Version (ESV)
The Hebrew word translated "sinews" here is actually more literally "gnawers," referring to the relentless, biting pain that consumes Job. This isn't just generalized discomfort, but a deep, active torment that consumes him, especially in the quiet of the night when rest is most expected.
The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest.
English Standard Version (ESV)
Job is describing the excruciating physical pain of his illness, which is so severe that it feels like his bones are being pierced and his body is being gnawed away, especially during the night when he should be resting. This follows his lament over the loss of his former status and dignity and precedes his further description of his body being consumed by disease and his extreme suffering.
Night is supposed to be a time of rest and healing. But for Job, it's a time when his suffering intensifies. What does this tell us about the nature of his pain?
Pain That Deepens in Darkness
Job describes his suffering as something that actively attacks him, especially when the world is quiet.
Job uses a powerful image to describe his pain: 'gnawers' that never rest. What are these 'gnawers', and what do they reveal about his desperate state?
Relentless Tormentors
The word translated as 'sinews' in some versions actually refers to 'gnawers.' This shifts our understanding from a simple physical ailment to something more active and insidious.
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Understand the original words
etsem · Hebrew Noun
Refers to the foundational structure of the human body. In poetic literature, "bones" often represent the strength, core, or total physical being of a person, and their "racking" or "breaking" symbolizes extreme physical or emotional agony.
This passage describes a similar visceral sense of physical breakdown and suffering, echoing Job's feeling of his bones being out of joint and his heart melting like wax.
Psalm 38:3The psalmist also speaks of God's arrows piercing him and His hand pressing down on him, causing his flesh and skin to waste away, mirroring Job's profound physical torment.
Lamentations 1:13Jeremiah describes God sending fire into Job's bones, which sends them down, using imagery of deep, pervasive pain that consumes the very structure of the body.
Matthew 8:6In the New Testament, a centurion describes his servant suffering greatly, being 'wracked with paralysis,' which captures a sense of uncontrollable, agonizing physical distress similar to Job's experience.
barnesJob 30:17: "My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest."
My bones are pierced in me - The bones are often represented in the Scriptures as the seat of acute pain; Psalm 6:2 ; Psalm 22:14 ; Psalm 31:10 ; Psalm 38:3 ; Psalm 42:10 ; Proverbs 14:30 ; compare Job 20:11 . The meaning here is, that he had had shooting or piercing pains in the night, which disturbed and prevented his rest. It is mentioned as a special aggravation of his sufferings that they were "in the…
cambridgeJob 30:17: "My bones are pierced in me in the night season: and my sinews take no rest."
17 . His tormenting pains. In the night season my bones are pierced (and fall) off from me, And my gnawing pains take no rest. The first clause refers to his tormenting pains, severest in the night, under which his bones seem pierced and his limbs to be wrenched from him. “My gnawing pains” is lit. my gnawers .
The Hebrew word translated "sinews" here is actually more literally "gnawers," referring to the relentless, biting pain that consumes Job. This isn't just generalized discomfort, but a deep, active torment that consumes him, especially in the quiet of the night when rest is most expected.
Job is describing the excruciating physical pain of his illness, which is so severe that it feels like his bones are being pierced and his body is being gnawed away, especially during the night when he should be resting. This follows his lament over the loss of his former status and dignity and precedes his further description of his body being consumed by disease and his extreme suffering.
Job is describing the excruciating physical pain of his illness, which is so severe that it feels like his bones are being pierced and his body is being gnawed away, especially during the night when he should be resting. This follows his lament over the loss of his former status and dignity and precedes his further description of his body being consumed by disease and his extreme suffering.
"The night racks my bones, and the pain that gnaws me takes no rest." — The Hebrew word translated "sinews" here is actually more literally "gnawers," referring to the relentless, biting pain that consumes Job. This isn't just generalized discomfort, but a deep, active t…
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Last reviewed October 2026