Job 17:7

7 My sight has grown weak because of my sadness, and my body is as thin as a shadow.

Job 17:7 Meaning and Commentary

Job 17:7

Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow
Through excessive weeping, and the abundance of tears he shed, so that he had almost lost his eyesight, or however it was greatly weakened and impaired by that means, which is often the case, see ( Psalms 6:7 ) ( 31:9 ) ;

and all my members [are] as a shadow;
his flesh was consumed off his bones, there were nothing left scarcely but skin and bone; he was a mere anatomy, and as thin as a lath, as we commonly say of a man that is quite worn away, as it were; is a walking shadow, has scarce any substance in him, but is the mere shadow of a man; the Targum interprets it of his form, splendour, and countenance, which were like a shadow; some interpret it "my thoughts" F20, and understand it of the formations of his mind, and not of his body, which were shadows, empty, fleeting, and having no consistence in them through that sorrow that possessed him.


FOOTNOTES:

F20 (yruy) "cogitationes meae", Pagninus, Bolducius, Codurcus, so Ben Gersom.

Job 17:7 In-Context

5 A person might speak against his friends for money, but if he does, the eyes of his children go blind.
6 "God has made my name a curse word; people spit in my face.
7 My sight has grown weak because of my sadness, and my body is as thin as a shadow.
8 Honest people are upset about this; innocent people are upset with those who do wrong.
9 But those who do right will continue to do right, and those whose hands are not dirty with sin will grow stronger.
Scripture taken from the New Century Version. Copyright © 1987, 1988, 1991 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved.