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Wisdom & Poetry · Old Testament

Job 7

Job 7: Job turns from the friends to address God

General context

Job continues the reply begun in chapter 6, now speaking about man's lot and then to God. He says man's days on earth are like a hireling's, and that he is made to possess months of vanity and wearisome nights, tossing until dawn. His flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust, his skin broken and loathsome; his days pass swifter than a weaver's shuttle and without hope. He asks God to remember that his life is wind, that the eye that has seen him will see him no more, and that one who goes down to the grave does not come up or return to his house. Therefore he will not refrain his mouth but complain in the bitterness of his soul. He asks whether he is a sea or a whale that God sets a watch over him; when he looks to his bed for comfort God frightens him with dreams and visions, so that his soul chooses strangling and death over life. He says he loathes it and would not live always, and asks to be left alone. He asks what man is that God should magnify him, visit him every morning and try him every moment, and how long before God will depart from him and let him alone long enough to swallow his spittle. He says, I have sinned, asks what he can do to the preserver of men and why God has set him as a mark, and why God does not pardon his transgression, since soon he will sleep in the dust and God will seek him and he will not be.

Cited passages: Job 7:1, Job 7:2, Job 7:3, Job 7:4, Job 7:5, Job 7:6, Job 7:7, Job 7:8, Job 7:9, Job 7:10, Job 7:11, Job 7:12, Job 7:13, Job 7:14, Job 7:15, Job 7:16, Job 7:17, Job 7:18, Job 7:19, Job 7:20, Job 7:21

Job 7 (KJV)

1Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?

2As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work:

3So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.

4When I lie down, I say, When shall I arise, and the night be gone? and I am full of tossings to and fro unto the dawning of the day.

5My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; my skin is broken, and become loathsome.

6My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.

7O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall no more see good.

8The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more: thine eyes are upon me, and I am not.

9As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away: so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more.

10He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place know him any more.

11Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.

12Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?

13When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint;

14Then thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions:

15So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life.

16I loathe it; I would not live alway: let me alone; for my days are vanity.

17What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?

18And that thou shouldest visit him every morning, and try him every moment?

19How long wilt thou not depart from me, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle?

20I have sinned; what shall I do unto thee, O thou preserver of men? why hast thou set me as a mark against thee, so that I am a burden to myself?

21And why dost thou not pardon my transgression, and take away mine iniquity? for now shall I sleep in the dust; and thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be.

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Historical context

There is no narrator's line in this chapter; the speaker is still Job, whose answer began at 6.1, and Bildad does not reply until 8.1. Within the chapter the addressee changes. Verses 1 to 10 speak about man and about Job's own days; from verse 8, thine eyes are upon me, and plainly from verse 11, Job addresses God directly. The words I have sinned in verse 20 are Job's, spoken inside a question about why God has made him a mark; the text names no specific sin, and the narrator has twice said that Job did not sin, in 1.22 and 2.10. Job's statements that one who goes down to the grave shall come up no more and that I shall not be are his expectations, not narrator statements. The description of worms, broken skin and clods of dust is the fullest account of Job's illness after the boils of 2.7. Eliphaz's vision in 4.13 came when deep sleep falls on men; Job says God scares him with dreams and terrifies him through visions, but does not refer to Eliphaz's experience.

Cited passages: Job 6:1, Job 8:1, Job 7:8, Job 7:11, Job 7:20, Job 1:22, Job 2:10, Job 7:9, Job 7:21, Job 7:5, Job 2:7, Job 4:13, Job 7:14

Literary context

The chapter is shaped by time words: an appointed time, days like a hireling's, months of vanity, wearisome nights, the dawning of the day, every morning, every moment. Job's life is measured first by a weaver's shuttle and then by wind and a vanishing cloud. The turn at verse 11, Therefore I will not refrain my mouth, moves the speech from lament to address, and the questions that follow are aimed at God: Am I a sea, or a whale; What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him. That second question turns divine attention into complaint, as being visited every morning becomes being tried every moment. Eliphaz in 5.17 called God's correction a happiness; Job answers that being watched and tried is what he cannot bear, and asks to be left alone. The last verse ends on absence: God will seek him in the morning, but I shall not be. Bildad's reply in 8.2 calls Job's words a strong wind, an echo of Job's own my life is wind.

Cited passages: Job 7:1, Job 7:3, Job 7:4, Job 7:6, Job 7:7, Job 7:9, Job 7:11, Job 7:12, Job 7:17, Job 7:18, Job 5:17, Job 7:16, Job 7:21, Job 8:2

Key moments

  1. Days like a hireling's (Job 7:1). Job compares man's days to a hired servant's.
  2. Months of vanity (Job 7:3). Job says he possesses months of vanity and wearisome nights.
  3. Worms and broken skin (Job 7:5). Job describes his flesh as clothed with worms and his skin broken.
  4. My life is wind (Job 7:7). Job asks God to remember that his life is wind.
  5. I will not refrain my mouth (Job 7:11). Job resolves to complain in the bitterness of his soul.
  6. What is man? (Job 7:17). Job asks why God magnifies man and tries him every moment.
  7. Why not pardon me? (Job 7:21). Job asks why God does not pardon him before he sleeps in the dust.

For reflection

Job asks God to leave him alone, then asks why God will not pardon him before he is gone. Can a reader hold both requests together, and what does the chapter suggest Job wants more?