Albert Barnes Commentary Job 30:15

"Terrors are turned upon me; They chase mine honor as the wind; And my welfare is passed away as a cloud." — Job 30:15 (ASV)

Terrors are turned upon me - This means as if they were all turned upon him, or made to converge toward him. Everything suited to produce terror seemed to have a direction given to it toward him. Umbreit and some others, however, suppose that God is referred to here, and that the meaning is, “God is turned against me; terrors drive as a storm against me.” The Hebrew will allow either construction, but it is more emphatic and impressive to suppose it means that everything suited to produce terror seemed to be turned against him.

They pursue my soul as the wind - Margin, my principal one. The word “they” here refers to the terrors. In the original text, the word תרדף tirâdaph agrees with בלהה ballâhâh—terrors understood, as this word is often used as a collective noun and with a singular verb, or it may agree with אהת כל—“each one of the terrors persecutes me.” There is more difficulty with the word rendered “soul” in the text, and “principal one” in the margin—נדיבה n^edîybâh.

It properly means willingness, voluntariness, spontaneity; then a free-will offering, a voluntary sacrifice; then largeness, abundance. Rosenmuller renders it, “My vigor.” Noyes translates it as “My prosperity,” and Coverdale likewise. Jerome renders it “My desire,” and the Septuagint, “My hope passes away as the wind.” Schultens translates it, “They persecute my generous spirit as the wind.”

It seems probable that the word refers to a generous, noble nature; to a large and liberal soul, evincing its magnanimity in acts of generosity and hospitality. The idea seems to be that his enemies rushed against that generous nature like a tempest. They wholly disregarded it, and a nature most generous and noble was exposed to the fury of the storm.

And my welfare - Hebrew: my salvation; or my safety.

As a cloud - As a cloud vanishes and wholly disappears.