Job 7:12-21

12 Am I a sea, or a serpent, that thou hast set a watch over me?
13 I said that my bed should comfort me, and I would privately counsel with myself on my couch.
14 Thou scarest me with dreams, and dost terrify me with visions.
15 Thou wilt separate life from my spirit; and yet my bones from death.
16 For I shall not live for ever, that I should patiently endure: depart from me, for my life vain.
17 For what is man, that thou hast magnified him? or that thou givest heed to him?
18 Wilt thou visit him till the morning, and judge him till rest?
19 How long dost thou not let me alone, nor let me go, until I shall swallow down my spittle?
20 If I have sinned, what shall I be able to do, O thou that understandest the mind of men? why hast thou made me as thine accuser, and am I a burden to thee?
21 Why hast thou not forgotten my iniquity, and purged my sin? but now I shall depart to the earth; and in the morning I am no more.

Job 7:12-21 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.

The Brenton translation of the Septuagint is in the public domain.