Job 7:7

7 God, have thou mind, for my life is wind, and mine eye shall not turn again, that it see goods. (God, remember that my life is but a breath, and I shall no longer see any good days.)

Job 7:7 Meaning and Commentary

Job 7:7

O remember that my life [is] wind
Or, "breath" ^F3; man's life is in his breath, and that breath is in his nostrils, and therefore not to be accounted of, or depended on; man appears by this to be a poor frail creature, whose life, with respect to himself, is very precarious and uncertain; it is but as a "vapour", an air bubble, full of wind, easily broken and dissipated, and soon vanishes away; it is like the "wind", noisy and blusterous, full of stir and tumult, and, like that, swiftly passes and sweeps away, and returns not again: this is an address to God; and so some ^F4 supply it, "O God", or "O Lord, remember" not that forgetfulness is in God, or that he needs to be reminded of anything; but he may seem to forget the frailty of man when he lays his hand heavy on him; and may be said to be mindful of it when he mercifully takes it off: what Job here prays for, the Lord often does, as he did with respect to the Israelites, ( Psalms 78:39 ) ;

mine eye shall no more see good:
meaning not spiritual and eternal good, here and hereafter; he knew he should, after this life, see his living Redeemer even with the eyes of his body, when raised again; that he should see him as he is, not through a glass, darkly, but face to face, in all his glory; and that for himself, and not another, and even see and enjoy things he had never seen before: but his sense is, that he should see or enjoy no more temporal good; either in this world, being without hope of any, or in the grave, whither he was going and would shortly be; and therefore entreats that some mercy might be shown him while he lived; to which sense the following words incline.

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FOOTNOTES:

F3 (xwr) "hali us", Cocceius, Michaelis.
F4 So Beza, Vatablus, Drusius, Michaelis.

Job 7:7 In-Context

5 My flesh is clothed with rot, and filths of dust; my skin dried up, and is drawn together (my skin is dried up, and is altogether drawn/and my skin is covered with running sores).

6 My days have passed swifter than a web is cut down from the looms; and those days be wasted without any hope of coming again.

7 God, have thou mind, for my life is wind, and mine eye shall not turn again, that it see goods. (God, remember that my life is but a breath, and I shall no longer see any good days.)

8 Neither the sight of man shall behold me; but thine eyes be in me (but thy eyes be upon me), and I shall not be in deadly life, that is, I shall not abide (alive).

9 As a cloud is wasted, and passeth soon away, so he that goeth down to hell, shall not go up (from) thence; (Like a cloud that fadeth, and soon passeth away, is he who goeth down to the Sheol, or the grave, and shall never come up from there;)