1 Does not man have hard labor on earth? Are not his days like the days of a hired man? 2 Like a slave earnestly desires the shadows of evening, like a hired man looks for his wages— 3 so I have been made to endure months of misery; I have been given trouble-filled nights. 4 When I lie down, I say to myself, 'When will I get up and when will the night be gone?' I am full of tossing to and fro until the day's dawning. 5 My flesh is clothed with worms and clods of dust; the sores in my skin harden up and then dissolve and run afresh. 6 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle; they pass without hope. 7 God, call to mind that my life is only a breath; my eye will no more see good. 8 The eye of God, who sees me, will see me no more; God's eyes will be on me, but I will not exist. 9 As a cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he who goes down to Sheol will come up no more. 10 He will return no more to his house; neither will his place know him again. 11 Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul. 12 Am I the sea or a sea monster that you place a guard over me? 13 When I say, 'My bed will comfort me, and my couch will ease my complaint,' 14 then you scare me with dreams and terrify me through visions, 15 so that I would choose strangling and death rather than preserving these bones of mine. 16 I loathe my life; I would not wish to always be alive; let me alone for my days are useless. 17 What is man that you should pay attention to him, that you should set your mind on him, 18 that you should observe him every morning and test him every moment? 19 How long will it be before you look away from me, before you let me alone long enough for me to swallow down my own saliva? 20 Even if I have sinned, what would that do to you, you who watch men? Why have you made a target of me, so that I am a burden for you? 21 Why do you not pardon my transgression and take away my iniquity? For now will I lie down in the dust; you will seek me carefully, but I will not exist.”
Job 7 Unlocked Literal Bible
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)