Job 7:2-12

2 Like a slave who longs for 1the shadow, and like 2a hired hand who looks for his 3wages,
3 so I am allotted months of 4emptiness, 5and nights of misery are apportioned to me.
4 6When I lie down I say, 'When shall I arise?' But the night is long, and I am full of tossing till the dawn.
5 My flesh is clothed with 7worms and 8dirt; my skin hardens, then 9breaks out afresh.
6 My days are 10swifter than 11a weaver's shuttle and come to their end without hope.
7 "Remember that my life is a 12breath; my eye will never again see good.
8 13The eye of him who sees me will behold me no more; while your eyes are on me, 14I shall be gone.
9 As 15the cloud fades and vanishes, so he who 16goes down to Sheol does not come up;
10 he 17returns no more to his house, nor does his 18place know him anymore.
11 "Therefore I will not 19restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will 20complain in 21the bitterness of my soul.
12 Am I the sea, or 22a sea monster, that you set a guard over me?

Job 7:2-12 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO JOB 7

In this chapter Job goes on to defend himself in an address to God; as that he had reason to complain of his extraordinary afflictions, and wish for death; by observing the common case of mankind, which he illustrates by that of an hireling, Job 7:1; and justifies his eager desire of death by the servant and hireling; the one earnestly desiring the shadow, and the other the reward of his work, Job 7:2; by representing his present state as exceeding deplorable, even worse than that of the servant and hireling, since they had rest at night, when he had none, and were free from pain, whereas he was not, Job 7:3-5; by taking notice of the swiftness and shortness of his days, in which he had no hope of enjoying any good, Job 7:6,7; and so thought his case hard; and the rather, since after death he could enjoy no temporal good: and therefore to be deprived of it while living gave him just reason of complaint, Job 7:8-11; and then he expostulates with God for setting such a strict watch upon him; giving him no ease night nor day, but terrifying him with dreams and visions, which made life disagreeable to him, and death more eligible than that, Job 7:12-16; and represents man as unworthy of the divine regard, and below his notice to bestow favours on him, or to chastise him for doing amiss, Job 7:17,18; and admitting that he himself had sinned, yet he should forgive his iniquity, and not bear so hard upon him, and follow him with one affliction after another without intermission, and make him the butt of his arrows; but should spare him and let him alone, or however take him out of the world, Job 7:19-21.

Cross References 22

  • 1. Song of Songs 2:17; Song of Songs 4:6; Jeremiah 6:4
  • 2. Job 14:6
  • 3. Leviticus 19:13
  • 4. ver. 16
  • 5. [Job 30:17]
  • 6. Deuteronomy 28:67
  • 7. Isaiah 14:11
  • 8. [Job 2:8]
  • 9. [Job 2:7]
  • 10. Job 9:25
  • 11. [Isaiah 38:12]
  • 12. Job 6:26; Psalms 78:39
  • 13. Job 20:9; [Job 8:18; Psalms 37:36]
  • 14. [ver. 2]
  • 15. Job 30:15
  • 16. See Job 21:13
  • 17. Job 10:21; 2 Samuel 12:23
  • 18. Job 20:9; Psalms 103:16; [Job 8:18]
  • 19. Psalms 40:9
  • 20. Job 21:4; Psalms 77:3
  • 21. Job 10:1; Job 21:25; 1 Samuel 1:10; Isaiah 38:15; [Job 3:20]
  • 22. Genesis 1:21
The English Standard Version is published with the permission of Good News Publishers.