Job 7:6

6 My days pass by without hope, pass faster than a weaver's shuttle.

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 ) .

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FOOTNOTES:

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

Job 7:6 In-Context

4 When I lie down to sleep, the hours drag; I toss all night and long for dawn.

5 My body is full of worms; it is covered with scabs; pus runs out of my sores.

6 My days pass by without hope, pass faster than a weaver's shuttle.

7 Remember, O God, my life is only a breath; my happiness has already ended.

8 You see me now, but never again. If you look for me, I'll be gone.

Footnotes

• [a] weaver's shuttle: [A small device in the loom which carries threads back and forth rapidly in weaving cloth.]