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Job 7

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The Misery and Brevity of Life 1–6

1
Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling? ​
2
As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work: ​
3
So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.
4
When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day. ​
5
My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome.
6
My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and are spent without hope. ​

The Finality of Death 7–10

7
O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall no more see good. ​
8
The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more: thine eyes are upon me, and I am not.
9
As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more. ​
10
He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.

Job Resolves to Complain Bitterly 11–16

11
Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. ​
12
Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me? ​
13
When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint;
14
Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions: ​
15
So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life.
16
I loathe it; I would not live alway: let me alone; for my days are vanity.

Why Does God Watch Me So Closely? 17–21

17
What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him? ​
18
And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment?
19
How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle? ​
20
I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself? ​
21
And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be. ​

Bible text: King James Version (1769 Blayney text) · Public domain

Study Notes for Job 7

Verse 1

an appointed time — Tsaba is a host or army, and so a term of service, warfare; it recurs in Job 14:14, 'all the days of my appointed time will I wait'. Man's span on 'earth' is fixed like a soldier's or hireling's term, and 'his days' are as the hireling's day (Job 14:6).

Verse 2

the shadow — Tsel, shade, here the evening shade that ends the working day. The hireling 'looketh for' (qavah, waits for) his wage, which the law required be paid at once: 'neither shall the sun go down upon it' (Deut 24:15; Lev 19:13). Job waits for his own release.

Verse 4

tossings to and fro — Nadud, a rolling on the bed, a word found only here in the Bible. The night is long to the sleepless: 'When shall I arise, and the night be gone?' Job's complaint of waking nights returns in v.13 and echoes Ps 77:4, 'Thou holdest mine eyes waking'.

Verse 6

a weaver's shuttle — Ereg is the weaver's shuttle or weaving; the days run through quickly as the thread. Hezekiah uses the same figure: 'I have cut off like a weaver my life' (Isa 38:12). 'Without hope' is tiqvah, literally a cord, as in Job 17:15, 'And where is now my hope?'

Verse 7

my life is wind — Ruach, wind or breath. Job turns from his friends to speak to God, asking him to 'remember'. The plea matches Ps 78:39, where God 'remembered that they were but flesh; a wind that passeth away, and cometh not again'; compare James 4:14.

Verse 9

the grave — Sheol, the place of the dead. As a cloud 'vanisheth away', so the one who goes down 'shall come up no more'. Job speaks of no return to this life, as David of his child: 'I shall go to him, but he shall not return to me' (2 Sam 12:23); compare Job 14:10.

Verse 11

I will not refrain my mouth — Chasak, to hold back, restrain. 'Anguish' (tsar) is narrowness, a tight place, and 'bitterness' (mar) is the word of Job 10:1, 'I will speak in the bitterness of my soul'. The 'Therefore' rests on the brevity of life just described (vv.7–10).

Verse 12

a sea, or a whale — 'Whale' is tannin, a sea monster or serpent; Job asks if he is such a creature that God 'settest a watch' over him (mishmar, a guard). God himself set the sea's limit: 'Hitherto shalt thou come, but no further' (Job 38:11); he later speaks of Leviathan (Job 41:1).

Verse 14

scarest me with dreams — Chathath, to break down or terrify, with chalom (dream) and chizzayon (vision, a thing seen). The bed Job hoped would 'comfort' him (v.13) becomes a further source of fear, and he ascribes the terror directly to God: 'thou scarest me'.

Verse 17

What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? — Job turns Ps 8:4, 'What is man, that thou art mindful of him?', from wonder to complaint. 'Magnify' is gadal, to make great; 'set thine heart upon him' means to give him attention. Ps 144:3 and Heb 2:6 keep the question in praise.

Verse 19

How long wilt thou not depart from me — 'Depart' is shaah, to gaze, so Job asks God to look away (compare Job 14:6, 'Turn from him, that he may rest'). 'Swallow down my spittle' (roq) is a short pause; he says elsewhere, 'He will not suffer me to take my breath' (Job 9:18).

Verse 20

O thou preserver of men — Natsar, to guard or keep; the watcher of men is Job's target. 'Mark' is miphga, an object of attack, found only here; compare Lam 3:12, 'set me as a mark for the arrow'. He admits 'I have sinned' yet asks what he can do to God.

Verse 21

why dost thou not pardon my transgression — 'Pardon' is nasa, to lift, and 'take away' is abar, to pass over; 'transgression' is pesha, rebellion. The plea is urgent: 'now shall I sleep in the dust', and when God would 'seek me in the morning' (shachar, to seek early), 'I shall not be'.