1 The life of man upon earth is a warfare, and his days are like the days of a hireling. 2 As a servant longeth for the shade, as the hireling looketh for the end of his work; 3 So I also have had empty months, and have numbered to myself wearisome nights. 4 If I lie down to sleep, I shall say: When shall arise? and again I shall look for the evening, and shall be filled with sorrows even till darkness. 5 My flesh is clothed with rottenness and the filth of dust, my skin is withered and drawn together. 6 My days have passed more swiftly than the web is cut by the weaver, and are consumed without any hope. 7 Remember that my life is but wind, and my eyes shall not return to see good things. 8 Nor shall the sight of man behold me: thy eyes are upon me, and I shall be no more. 9 As a cloud is consumed, and passeth away: so he that shall go down to hell shall not come up. 10 Nor shall he return my more into his house, neither shall his place know him any more. 11 Wherefore I will not spare my month, I will speak in the affliction of my spirit: I will talk with the bitterness of my soul. 12 Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou hast enclosed me in a prison? 13 If I say: My bed shall comfort me, and I shall be relieved speaking with myself on my couch: 14 Thou wilt frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions. 15 So that my soul rather chooseth hanging, and my bones death. 16 I have done with hope, I shall now live no longer: spare me, for my days are nothing. 17 What is a man that thou shouldst magnify him? or why dost thou set thy heart upon him? 18 Thou visitest him early in the morning, and thou provest him suddenly. 19 How long wilt thou not spare me, nor suffer me to swallow down my spittle? 20 I have sinned: what shall I do to thee, O keeper of men? why hast thou set me opposite to thee, and I am become burdensome to myself? 21 Why dost thou not remove my sin, and why dost thou not take away my iniquity? Behold now I shall sleep in the dust: and if thou seek me in the morning, I shall not be.
Job · Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
Job 7 Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Cross references (21)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Job 14:5–6; Psalm 39:4; Job 5:7; Job 14:13–14; Leviticus 25:50
- 2 Leviticus 19:13; Deuteronomy 24:15; James 5:4; Malachi 3:5; Jeremiah 6:4
- 3 Psalm 6:6; Ecclesiastes 1:14; Job 16:7; Job 29:2; Psalm 39:5
- 4 Deuteronomy 28:67; Job 7:13–14; Psalm 77:4; Psalm 6:6; Psalm 130:6
- 5 Isaiah 14:11; Job 17:14; Job 2:7–8; Isaiah 1:6; Acts 12:23
- 6 Job 9:25; Job 17:15; Job 17:11; Isaiah 38:12–13; Isaiah 40:6–7
- 7 James 4:14; Psalm 78:39; Jeremiah 15:15; Psalm 89:47; Job 10:21–22
- 8 Job 20:9; Psalm 37:36; Job 8:18; Psalm 90:8–9; Job 13:27
- 9 Job 10:21; 2 Samuel 14:14; Job 30:15; Job 16:22; Job 14:10–14
- 10 Job 8:18; Job 20:9; Psalm 103:16; Job 27:23; Job 27:21
- 11 1 Samuel 1:10; Psalm 40:9; Job 10:1; Isaiah 38:15; Job 21:25
- 12 Job 7:17; Lamentations 3:7; Ezekiel 32:2–3; Job 38:6–11; Job 41:1–34
- 13 Psalm 6:6; Psalm 77:4; Job 7:3–4; Job 9:27–28
- 14 Genesis 41:8; Daniel 2:1; Genesis 40:5–7; Judges 7:13–14; Matthew 27:19
- 15 Matthew 27:5; 2 Samuel 17:23
- 16 1 Kings 19:4; Job 10:1; Job 9:21; Job 14:6; Psalm 62:9
- 17 Hebrews 2:6; Psalm 8:4; Psalm 144:3; Job 34:14–15; Job 7:12
- 18 1 Peter 1:7; Jeremiah 9:7; Isaiah 38:12–13; Job 14:3; Genesis 22:1
- 19 Job 9:18; Psalm 13:1–3; Job 14:6; Psalm 6:3; Psalm 94:3
- 20 Lamentations 3:12; Psalm 36:6; Job 3:24; Job 7:11–12; Psalm 21:12
- 21 Job 10:14; Daniel 12:2; 1 John 1:9; Lamentations 5:20–22; Isaiah 64:9
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
"For I shall not live alway, that I should suffer long." Next, his being conscious to himself of many good works.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)