Job 7:5-15

5 "My ¹flesh is clothed with worms and a crust of dirt, My skin hardens and runs.

6 "My days are ²swifter than a weaver's shuttle, And come to an end ³without hope.

7 "Remember that my life ⁴is but breath; My eye will ⁵not again see good.

8 "The ⁶eye of him who sees me will behold me no longer; Your eyes will be on me, but ⁷I will not be.

9 "When a ⁸cloud vanishes, it is gone, So ⁹he who goes down to ¹⁰Sheol does not come up.

10 "He will not return again to his house, Nor will ¹¹his place know him anymore.

11 "Therefore ¹²I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit, I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

12 "Am I the sea, or ¹³the sea monster, That You set a guard over me?

13 "If I say, '¹⁴My bed will comfort me, My couch will ease my complaint,'

14 Then You frighten me with dreams And terrify me by visions;

15 So that my soul would choose suffocation, Death rather than my pains.

Job 7:5-15 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

• 1. Job 2:7; Job 17:14
• 2. Job 9:25
• 3. Job 13:15; Job 14:19; Job 17:15, 16; Job 19:10
• 4. Job 7:16; Psalms 78:39; James 4:14
• 5. Job 9:25
• 6. Job 8:18; Job 20:9
• 7. Job 7:21
• 8. Job 30:15
• 9. Job 3:13-19
• 10. 2 Samuel 12:23; Job 11:8; Job 14:13; Job 17:13, 16
• 11. Job 8:18; Job 20:9; Job 27:21, 23
• 12. Job 10:1; Job 21:4; Job 23:2; Psalms 40:9
• 13. Ezekiel 32:2, 3
• 14. Job 7:4; Psalms 6:6

Footnotes

• [a] Lit "bear"
• [b] Lit "bones"