Job 7:16

16 I loathe my life; I would not live for ever. Let me alone, for my days are a breath.

Job 7:16 Meaning and Commentary

Job 7:16

I loathe [it]
Or "them" F11, either his life, which was a weariness to him, or his bones, which were so painful and nauseous; or rather, "I am become loathsome", to himself, to his servants, and to his friends, and even his breath was strange to his wife; or "being ulcerated, I pine and waste away" F12, and must in course be quickly gone:

I would not live always;
no man can or will; there is no man that lives but what shall see death, ( Psalms 89:48 ) ; Job knew this, nor did he expect or desire it; and this was not his meaning, but that he desired that he might not live long, or to the full term of man's life, yea, that he might die quickly; and indeed to a good man to die is gain; and to depart out of the world, and be with Christ, is far better than to continue in it. And had Job expressed himself without passion, and with submission to the divine will, what he says would not have been amiss:

let me alone;
or "cease from me" F13; from afflicting him any more, having as great a weight upon him as he could bear, or greater than he could well stand up under; or from supporting him in life, he wishes that either God would withdraw his afflicting hand from him, or his preserving hand; either abate the affliction, or dismiss him from the world:

for my days [are] vanity;
a "breath" F14 or puff of wind; a "vapour", as Mr. Broughton renders it, that soon vanishes away; days empty of all that is good, delightful, and pleasant, and full of evil, trouble, and sorrow, as well as fleeting, transitory, and soon gone, are as nothing, yea, less than nothing, and vanity.


FOOTNOTES:

F11 "Aspernor vitam", Piscator; so Jarchi & Ben Gersom.
F12 (ytoam) "tabui", Cocceius; "ulceratus tabesco", Schultens.
F13 (ynmm ldx) "cessa a me", Pagninus, Montanus, Bolducius, Schmidt.
F14 (lbh) "halitus", Michaelis, Schultens.

Job 7:16 In-Context

14 then thou dost scare me with dreams and terrify me with visions,
15 so that I would choose strangling and death rather than my bones.
16 I loathe my life; I would not live for ever. Let me alone, for my days are a breath.
17 What is man, that thou dost make so much of him, and that thou dost set thy mind upon him,
18 dost visit him every morning, and test him every moment?
Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright 1952 [2nd edition, 1971] by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.