SEV Biblia, Chapter 30:4
Que cogían malvas entre los arbustos, y raíces de enebro para calentarse.
Clarke's Bible Commentary - Job 30:4
Verse 4. Who cut up mallows by the bushes ] jwlm malluach, which we translate mallows, comes from jlm melach, salt; some herb or shrub of a salt nature, sea-purslane, or the salsaria, salsola, or saltwort. Bochart says it is the alimov of the Greeks, and the halimus of the Romans. Some translate it nettles. The Syriac and Arabic omit the whole verse. The halimus, or atriplex halimus, grows near the sea in different countries, and is found in Spain, America, England, and Barbary. The salsaria, salsola, or saltwort, is an extensive genus of plants, several common to Asia, and not a few indigenous to a dry and sandy soil. And juniper roots for their meat. ] µymtr rethamim. This is variously translated juniper, broom, furze, gorse, or whin. It is supposed to derive its name from the toughness of its twigs, as µtr ratham signifies to bind; and this answers well enough to the broom. Genista quoque vinculi usum praestat, "The broom serves for bands," says PLINY, Hist. Nat. lib. xxiv., c. 9. But how can it be said that the roots of this shrub were eaten? I do not find any evidence from Asiatic writers that the roots of the juniper tree were an article of food; and some have supposed, because of this want of evidence, that the word µmjl lachmam, for their bread, should be understood thus, to bake their bread, because it is well known that the wood of the juniper gives an intense heat, and the coals of it endure a long time; and therefore we find coals of juniper, µymjr yljg gachaley rethamim, used Psa. cxx. 4 to express severe and enduring punishment.
But that the roots of the juniper were used for food in the northern countries, among the Goths, we have a positive testimony from Olaus Magnus, himself a Goth, and archbishop of Upsal, in lib. vii., c. 4, of his Hist. de Gentibus Septentrionalibus. Speaking of the great number of different trees in their woods, he says: "There is a great plenty of beech trees in all the northern parts, the virtue whereof is this: that, being cut between the bark and the wood, they send forth a juice that is good for drink. The fruit of them in famine serves for bread, and their bark for clothing. Likewise also the berries of the juniper, yea, even the roots of this tree are eaten for bread, as holy Job testifies, though it is difficult to come at them by reason of their prickles: in these prickles, or thorns, live coals will last a whole year. If the inhabitants do not quench them, when winds arise they set the woods on fire, and destroy all the circumjacent fields." In this account both the properties of the juniper tree, referred to by Job and David, are mentioned by the Gothic prelate. They use its berries and roots for food, and its wood for fire.
Matthew Henry Commentary
Verses 1-14 - Job contrasts his present condition with his former honour an authority. What little cause have men to be ambitious or proud of tha which may be so easily lost, and what little confidence is to be put in it! We should not be cast down if we are despised, reviled, and hate by wicked men. We should look to Jesus, who endured the contradictio of sinners.
Original Hebrew
הקטפים 6998 מלוח 4408 עלי 5921 שׂיח 7880 ושׁרשׁ 8328 רתמים 7574 לחמם׃ 3899
