John Gill Commentary Job 15:24

"Distress and anguish make him afraid; They prevail against him, as a king ready to the battle." — Job 15:24 (ASV)

Trouble and anguish shall make him afraid
Either his present troubles shall frighten him, they being so very dismal, terrible, and distressing, and make him fear that others were coming on, more dreadful and formidable; or those troubles he fears will be his portion hereafter, these terrify him beyond measure, even that indignation and wrath, tribulation and anguish, that shall come upon every soul of man that does evil, (Romans 2:8Romans 2:9);

they shall prevail against him as a king ready to the battle ;
that is, trouble and anguish shall prevail against him; he will be no more able to resist them than a very inferior force, or even a single man, is able to resist a warlike king, attended with a numerous army, and these set in battle array; such a man's troubles will come upon him as an armed man, against which he cannot stand; the Targum is,

``they shall surround him as a king prepared for a footstool;'' who being taken by the enemy shall be used as a footstool to mount on horseback; and as the word has the signification of a globe or ball, see (Isaiah 22:18); some think it has respect to the manner of kings, when taken captive, put into an iron cage, as Bajazet was by Tamerlane; or into an iron hoop, bound hand and foot, and hung up in chains; or, as Ben Gersom thinks, to the manner of drowning persons, who used to be tied hand and foot, as if rolled up in the form of a globe, and so cast into the water; but rather the reference is to an army, besieging a place all around in the form of a ball or globe, so that there is no escaping them; or rather it may be to a king drawing up his army in such a form, ready to engage in battle; or putting it in such a position when encamped or entrenched, waiting the motion of the enemy; see (1 Samuel 26:5); and such are the troubles that surround and prevail against a wicked man, see (Isaiah 29:3); the reasons of the wicked man being brought into such a woeful condition follow.