Job 7:6

6 "My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and they come to an end {without hope}.

Job 7:6 Meaning and Commentary

Job 7:6

My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle
Which moves very swiftly, being thrown quick and fast to and fro; some versions render it "a racer" F2 one that runs a race on foot, or rides on horseback, agreeably to ( Job 9:25 ) ; where, and in ( Job 7:7 ) ; to it, other similes are used, to set forth the swiftness and fleetness of man's days; as they also are elsewhere represented, as swift as a tale told, a word expressed, or a thought conceived, ( Psalms 90:9 ) ; and so here, by the Septuagint, are said to be "swifter than speech", though wrongly translated: this is to be understood, not of his days of affliction, distress, and sorrow; for these in his apprehension moved but slowly, and he could have been, glad that they had gone on faster; but either his days in common, or particularly his days of prosperity and pleasure, these were soon over with him; and which he sometimes wished for again, see ( Job 29:1-5 ) ;

and are spent without hope;
not without hope of happiness in another world, but without hope of being restored to his outward felicity in this; which Eliphaz had given him some him of, but he had no hope concerning it; see ( Job 5:24-26 ) ( Job 6:11 Job 6:19 ) ( 19:10 ) .


FOOTNOTES:

F2 (dromewv) , Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion in Drusius.

Job 7:6 In-Context

4 When I lie down, I say, 'When shall I rise?' But [the] night is long, and I have my fill of tossing until dawn.
5 My body is clothed [with] maggots and clods of dust; my skin hardens, then it gives way [again].
6 "My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle, and they come to an end {without hope}.
7 Remember that my life [is] a breath; my eye will not return to see good.
8 The eye of [the one] seeing me will not see me; your eyes [are] upon me, but {I will be gone}.

Footnotes 1

  • [a]. Literally "with nothing hope"
Scripture quotations marked (LEB) are from the Lexham English Bible. Copyright 2012 Logos Bible Software. Lexham is a registered trademark of Logos Bible Software.