Job 7:1-6

1 “Do not mortals have hard service on earth? Are not their days like those of hired laborers?
2 Like a slave longing for the evening shadows, or a hired laborer waiting to be paid,
3 so I have been allotted months of futility, and nights of misery have been assigned to me.
4 When I lie down I think, ‘How long before I get up?’ The night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn.
5 My body is clothed with worms and scabs, my skin is broken and festering.
6 “My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and they come to an end without hope.

Job 7:1-6 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 12

  • 1. Job 14:14; Isaiah 40:2
  • 2. S Job 5:7
  • 3. S Leviticus 25:50; Job 14:6
  • 4. Job 14:1; Ecclesiastes 2:23
  • 5. S Leviticus 19:13; S Job 14:6
  • 6. Job 16:7; Psalms 6:6; Psalms 42:3; Psalms 56:8; Ecclesiastes 4:1; Isaiah 16:9; Jeremiah 9:1; Lamentations 1:2,16
  • 7. Deuteronomy 28:67
  • 8. ver 13-14
  • 9. Job 17:14; Job 21:26; Job 24:20; Job 25:6; Isaiah 14:11
  • 10. S Deuteronomy 28:35
  • 11. Job 9:25; Psalms 39:5; Isaiah 38:12
  • 12. Job 13:15; Job 14:19; Job 17:11,15; Job 19:10; Psalms 37:4; Psalms 52:9
Scripture quoted by permission.  Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION®.  NIV®.  Copyright © 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica.  All rights reserved worldwide.