Job 7:11-16

11 “Therefore I will not keep silent; I will speak out in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
12 Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep, that you put me under guard?
13 When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint,
14 even then you frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions,
15 so that I prefer strangling and death, rather than this body of mine.
16 I despise my life; I would not live forever. Let me alone; my days have no meaning.

Job 7:11-16 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 16

  • 1. Job 9:35; Job 13:13; Psalms 22:2; Psalms 40:9
  • 2. Job 10:1; Psalms 6:3; Isaiah 38:15,17
  • 3. ver 13; Job 9:27; Job 21:4; Job 23:2
  • 4. S 1 Samuel 1:10; S Job 6:3
  • 5. Job 38:8-11
  • 6. S Genesis 1:21; Ezekiel 32:2-3
  • 7. ver 20; Isaiah 1:14
  • 8. S ver 11; Job 9:27
  • 9. Job 9:34
  • 10. S Genesis 41:8; S Job 3:26
  • 11. 1 Kings 19:4; John 4:3
  • 12. Job 6:9; Revelation 9:6
  • 13. S 1 Kings 19:4; Job 9:21; Job 10:1
  • 14. S Job 3:22
  • 15. ver 19; Job 10:20; Psalms 39:13
  • 16. S ver 7
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