Job 7:16

16 I despaired, (and) now I shall no more live; Lord, spare thou me, for my days be nought.

Job 7:16 Meaning and Commentary

Job 7:16

I loathe [it]
Or "them" F11, either his life, which was a weariness to him, or his bones, which were so painful and nauseous; or rather, "I am become loathsome", to himself, to his servants, and to his friends, and even his breath was strange to his wife; or "being ulcerated, I pine and waste away" F12, and must in course be quickly gone:

I would not live always;
no man can or will; there is no man that lives but what shall see death, ( Psalms 89:48 ) ; Job knew this, nor did he expect or desire it; and this was not his meaning, but that he desired that he might not live long, or to the full term of man's life, yea, that he might die quickly; and indeed to a good man to die is gain; and to depart out of the world, and be with Christ, is far better than to continue in it. And had Job expressed himself without passion, and with submission to the divine will, what he says would not have been amiss:

let me alone;
or "cease from me" F13; from afflicting him any more, having as great a weight upon him as he could bear, or greater than he could well stand up under; or from supporting him in life, he wishes that either God would withdraw his afflicting hand from him, or his preserving hand; either abate the affliction, or dismiss him from the world:

for my days [are] vanity;
a "breath" F14 or puff of wind; a "vapour", as Mr. Broughton renders it, that soon vanishes away; days empty of all that is good, delightful, and pleasant, and full of evil, trouble, and sorrow, as well as fleeting, transitory, and soon gone, are as nothing, yea, less than nothing, and vanity.


FOOTNOTES:

F11 "Aspernor vitam", Piscator; so Jarchi & Ben Gersom.
F12 (ytoam) "tabui", Cocceius; "ulceratus tabesco", Schultens.
F13 (ynmm ldx) "cessa a me", Pagninus, Montanus, Bolducius, Schmidt.
F14 (lbh) "halitus", Michaelis, Schultens.

Job 7:16 In-Context

14 thou shalt make me afeared by dreams, and thou shalt shake me with horror, either hideousness, by sights. (then thou shalt make me afraid with dreams, and thou shalt make me shake with visions of horror, or of hideousness.)
15 Wherefore my soul chose hanging, and my bones have chosen death.
16 I despaired, (and) now I shall no more live; Lord, spare thou me, for my days be nought.
17 What is a man, for thou magnifiest him? either what settest thou thine heart toward him? (What is a man, that thou magnifiest him? or why settest thou thy heart toward him?)
18 Thou visitest him early, and suddenly thou provest him. (And then thou punishest him early in the morning, and suddenly thou triest him.)
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.