Job 7:1-9

1 Job continued, "Doesn't every man have to work hard on this earth? Aren't his days like the days of a hired worker?

2 I've been like a slave who longs for the evening shadows to come. I've been like a hired worker who can hardly wait to get paid.

3 I've been given several months that were useless to me. My nights have been filled with suffering.

4 When I lie down I think, 'How long will it be before I can get up?' The night drags on. I toss and turn until sunrise.

5 My body is covered with worms and sores. My skin is broken. It has boils all over it.

6 "My days pass by faster than a weaver can work. They come to an end. I don't have any hope.

7 God, remember that my life is only a breath. I'll never be happy again.

8 The eyes that see me now won't see me anymore. You will look for me. But I'll be gone.

9 When a cloud disappears, it's gone forever. And anyone who goes down to the grave never returns.

Job 7:1-9 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.