Job 5:7

7 Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.

Job 5:7 in Other Translations

King James Version (KJV)
7 Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
English Standard Version (ESV)
7 but man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward.
New Living Translation (NLT)
7 People are born for trouble as readily as sparks fly up from a fire.
The Message Bible (MSG)
7 It's human! Mortals are born and bred for trouble, as certainly as sparks fly upward. What a Blessing When God Corrects You!
American Standard Version (ASV)
7 But man is born unto trouble, As the sparks fly upward.
GOD'S WORD Translation (GW)
7 But a person is born for trouble as surely as sparks fly up [from a fire].
Holman Christian Standard Bible (CSB)
7 But mankind is born for trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.
New International Reader's Version (NIRV)
7 People are born to have trouble. And that's just as sure as sparks fly up.

Job 5:7 Meaning and Commentary

Job 5:7

Yet man is born unto trouble
Or but F2, after the negative follows the positive part of the assertion; before we have what is denied as the cause of affliction, here what it is affirmed to be, or what it is to be ascribed unto, even to the appointment of God for sin: to be born to it is to be appointed to it, as all men are appointed to death, and to everything previous and that leads on to it; and it signifies that affliction or trouble springs from the birth sin of man, from original sin, the sin of the first parent, and of his nature; as all sins arise from hence, and are streams from this fountain of pollution, so all disorders and diseases of body, all distresses and anguish of mind, and death in every sense, corporeal, spiritual, and eternal; and these are the lot and portion, the estate and inheritance, of the sons of men by nature, what they are born unto, and are full of, see ( Job 14:1 ) ; the same word is here used as in ( Job 5:6 ) , and signifies labour, mischief, the mischief of sin, improbity, wickedness, moral evil; and man may be said to be born to sin, inasmuch as he is conceived, shapen, and born in it; and as he is born at once into a sinful state, and sins as soon as born, goes astray from the womb, is a transgressor from thence, and the imagination of his heart evil from his infancy and youth upwards, he becomes a slave to sin, and is a homeborn one; not that he is laid under a necessity of force to sin, or his will compelled to it; for he sins most freely, is a voluntary slave to it; he serves various lusts as pleasures, and gives himself up to work all iniquity with greediness; but there is such a connection between his birth, the circumstances of it, and sin, that sin is the certain consequence of it, and immediately, naturally, and necessarily follows upon it; that is, by a necessity of consequence, though not of coaction or force; it is as natural for man to sin as it is for a thirsty man to covet and drink water; or as for an Ethiopian to be born black, and a leopard with spots; or, as it follows,

as the sparks fly upward;
which they do naturally and necessarily when coals are blown, and which are here called "the sons of coals" F3; and to these, troubles and afflictions, the fruits and effects of sin, may be aptly compared; not only for the necessity of them, it is if needs be they are, but for the nature of them, being fiery and troublesome, hence called fiery trials, and signified by fires and flames of fire, ( 1 Peter 4:12 ) ( Isaiah 24:15 ) ( 43:2 ) ; and also for the number of them, being many, and very grievous: some interpret this of flying fowls, of young vultures, as the Septuagint; of young eagles, as others; Aben Ezra makes mention of this sense, as if it was, as a fowl is born to fly, so man is born to labour; to labour in the law, according to the Targum; or to labour for his bread; or rather, to labour and sorrow; that is, to affliction and trouble: a learned man F4 thinks the phrase, according to the use of it in the Arabic language, designs the more rapid cast of a dart, of the vibration of it, which is very quick.


FOOTNOTES:

F2 (yk) "sed", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator, Cocceius Schmidt, so Broughton.
F3 (Pvr ynb) , "tilii prunae", Montanus, Vatablus, Piscator, Cocceius, Bolducius, Schmidt.
F4 Hinckelman. Praefat. ad Alcoran. p. 29. So Schultens renders it, "tela corusea".

Job 5:7 In-Context

5 The hungry consume his harvest, taking it even from among thorns, and the thirsty pant after his wealth.
6 For hardship does not spring from the soil, nor does trouble sprout from the ground.
7 Yet man is born to trouble as surely as sparks fly upward.
8 “But if I were you, I would appeal to God; I would lay my cause before him.
9 He performs wonders that cannot be fathomed, miracles that cannot be counted.

Cross References 1

  • 1. S Genesis 3:17; Job 10:17; Job 15:35; Psalms 51:5; Psalms 58:3; Psalms 90:10; Proverbs 22:8; Job 14:1
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