What Does Job 30:18 Mean?

By the great force of my disease is my garment changed (בְּרָב־כֹּחַ יִתְחַפֵּשׂ לְבוּשִׁי)—The phrase rav-koach (רָב־כֹּחַ) means great force or violence; chaphash (חָפַשׂ) means to disguise, change, or search for; levush (לְבוּשׁ) means garment or clothing. Job's disease has so disfigured him that his very clothing no longer fits—swelling, lesions, or wasting have altered his body's shape. Alternatively, discharge or sores have so stained his garments they're unrecognizable.

It bindeth me about as the collar of my coat (כְּפִי כֻתָּנְתִּי יַאַזְרֵנִי)—Pi (פֶּה) means mouth or opening; kuttoneth (כֻּתֹּנֶת) means tunic or coat; azar (אָזַר) means to gird or bind. The disease clings to Job's neck like a tight collar, constricting and choking him. Or his garment's neck-hole has become too tight for his swollen condition. Either way, what should clothe him comfortably now strangles him. Clothing in Scripture signifies identity, status, dignity—Job's disease has stripped even this.