Through want and hard hunger they gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation; they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes, and the roots of the broom tree for their food.
English Standard Version (ESV)
The scholars point out that Job isn't just describing people fleeing to the wilderness, but rather "gnawing" at it for sustenance. This paints a starker picture of their desperation, surviving on roots and whatever meager scraps the desolate land offers.
Through want and hard hunger they gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation; they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes, and the roots of the broom tree for their food.
English Standard Version (ESV)
Job is describing a group of outcasts, the absolute lowest of the low in society, to emphasize just how degraded he feels by comparison. He's not just saying he's suffering; he's saying he's being treated worse than these wretched people who desperately gnaw on dry ground and roots in desolate wastelands, driven there by extreme hunger and want. They are so shunned that they even flee into the wilderness, seeking any meager sustenance in places that are themselves waste and empty.
What does it look like when people are so desperate for food that they resort to gnawing on the very land around them?
Job vividly describes a group of people pushed to the absolute margins of society. He says of them, "Through want and hard hunger they gnaw the dry ground."
The Look of Desperation
This isn't just about being a little hungry; it's about an extreme, gnawing emptiness. The Hebrew word used for 'want' implies a deep deficiency, not just a lack of comfort but a fundamental lack of necessities.
Gnawing the Land
The imagery of 'gnawing the dry ground' is intense. It suggests they are eating roots, dry plants, or anything they can scrape from a barren landscape. They aren't finding nourishing food; they are desperately consuming the very earth out of sheer, desperate need. This paints a picture of profound physical suffering and a life stripped of all dignity.
Why would people choose to live in empty, desolate places, especially when they are hungry?
Job doesn't just describe their physical state; he touches on their social condition. The verse mentions their "solitude" and their presence "in waste and desolation."
Conscious of Guilt and Contempt
Commentaries suggest that their solitude wasn't just a matter of circumstance but also of shame and guilt. They were outcasts, not only from society but perhaps also from themselves. They shunned company because they felt contemptible and hated.
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Retreat to the Wilderness
Instead of seeking out populated areas for help, which might be expected during famine, they fled into the wilderness. This points to a deep sense of alienation. The "waste and desolation" of the desert mirrored their own internal emptiness and reflected their outcast status, becoming a hiding place from the judgment of others.
Understand the original words
cheser · Hebrew Noun
A state of extreme deficiency or lack; often used in Scripture to describe a condition of suffering that humbles a person or drives them to dependence on God or others.
sho'ah · Hebrew Noun
A state of being forsaken, ruined, or empty; biblically, it often characterizes a place or life stripped of God's blessing or productivity.
Job's description of the outcasts gnawing on roots in desolate wastes reflects the extreme poverty and desperation some experienced during and after the Babylonian exile, a period of national trauma and displacement.
c. 1000 BC
United Monarchy of Israel
The reign of Kings Saul, David, and Solomon, unifying the tribes of Israel and establishing Jerusalem as the capital.
c. 931 BC
Division of the Kingdom
Following Solomon's death, the united kingdom splits into the Northern Kingdom of Israel and the Southern Kingdom of Judah.
c. 722 BC
Fall of Samaria
The Assyrian Empire conquers the Northern Kingdom of Israel, exiling many of its inhabitants.
c. 605 BC
First Babylonian Deportation
Nebuchadnezzar's Babylonian army conquers Judah, exiling a portion of the population, including Daniel.
c. 586 BC— this verse
Fall of Jerusalem
Babylon destroys Jerusalem and its Temple, exiling the majority of the Judean population to Babylon.
c. 539 BC
Cyrus the Great's Conquest of Babylon
The Persian Empire, led by Cyrus, overthrows the Babylonian Empire, allowing exiled Jews to return to Judah.
This passage describes the extreme destitution and exile of a people, forced to flee and live in desolate places due to famine and judgment, mirroring the dire straits of the outcasts in Job.
Psalm 107:33-34This psalm speaks of God turning a wilderness into a watery pool and a dry land into springs of water, illustrating the drastic transformation from barrenness and desolation to provision, a stark contrast to the scene in Job.
Lamentations 4:5This verse vividly portrays people suffering from hunger, reduced to eating the very dust of the ground, which strongly echoes the desperate scavenging and gnawing on barren land described in Job 30:3.
Ezekiel 36:35This prophecy speaks of the land, once desolate, being restored and made fertile like a garden, offering a hopeful counterpoint to the unending desolation and barrenness presented in Job's description.
bensonJob 30:3: "For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste."
Job 30:3 . For want and famine — Brought upon them either by their own sloth or wickedness, or by God’s just judgment. Hebrew, בחסר , becheser, In want and famine, which aggravates their following solitude. They were solitary, &c. — Although want commonly draws persons to places of resort and company for relief, yet they were so conscious of their own guilt, and contemptibleness, a…
clarkeJob 30:3: "For want and famine they were solitary; fleeing into the wilderness in former time desolate and waste."
Fleeing into the wilderness - Seeking something to sustain life even in the barren desert. This shows the extreme of want, when the desert is supposed to be the only place where any thing to sustain life can possibly be found.
The scholars point out that Job isn't just describing people fleeing to the wilderness, but rather "gnawing" at it for sustenance. This paints a starker picture of their desperation, surviving on roots and whatever meager scraps the desolate land offers.
Job is describing a group of outcasts, the absolute lowest of the low in society, to emphasize just how degraded he feels by comparison. He's not just saying he's suffering; he's saying he's being treated worse than these wretched people who desperately gnaw on dry ground and roots in desolate wastelands, driven there by extreme hunger and want. They are so shunned that they even flee into the wilderness, seeking any meager sustenance in places that are themselves waste and empty.
Job is describing a group of outcasts, the absolute lowest of the low in society, to emphasize just how degraded he feels by comparison. He's not just saying he's suffering; he's saying he's being treated worse than these wretched people who desperately gnaw on dry ground and roots in desolate wastelands, driven there by extreme hunger and want. They are so shunned that they even flee into the wilderness, seeking any meager sustenance in places that are themselves waste and empty.
"Through want and hard hunger they gnaw the dry ground by night in waste and desolation; they pick saltwort and the leaves of bushes, and the roots of the broom tree for their food." — The scholars point out that Job isn't just describing people fleeing to the wilderness, but rather "gnawing" at it for sustenance. This paints a starker picture of their desperation, surviving on r…
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Last reviewed October 2026