Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Is death final?The Hebrew Bible's wisdom literature and older narrative strata treat death as terminal — the dead go to Sheol, lose consciousness, and do not return.
Does hell exist?The Bible offers four mutually incompatible afterlife schemes.
James 4:14(vv6–7)Whereas you don’t know what your life will be like tomorrow. For what is your life? For you are a vapor that appears for a little time, and…
Psalms 78:39(v7)He remembered that they were but flesh, a wind that passes away, and doesn’t come again.
Job 9:25(vv6–7)“Now my days are swifter than a runner. They flee away. They see no good.
Job 20:9(vv8, 10)The eye which saw him will see him no more, neither will his place see him any more.
Job 17:15(v6)where then is my hope? as for my hope, who will see it?
Show all 48 cross-references
Job 8:18(vv8, 10)If he is destroyed from his place, then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have not seen you.’
Job 17:11(v6)My days are past. My plans are broken off, as are the thoughts of my heart.
Job 16:22(vv6, 9)For when a few years have come, I will go the way of no return.
2 Samuel 14:14(v9)For we must die, and are like water spilled on the ground, which can’t be gathered up again; neither does God take away life, but devises…
Job 10:21(v9)before I go where I will not return from, to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death;
Job 30:15(v9)Terrors have turned on me. They chase my honor as the wind. My welfare has passed away as a cloud.
Psalms 37:36(v8)But he passed away, and behold, he was not. Yes, I sought him, but he could not be found.
Psalms 89:47(v7)Remember how short my time is, for what vanity you have created all the children of men!
Psalms 103:15-16(v6)As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, so he flourishes. For the wind passes over it, and it is gone. Its place…
Psalms 103:16(v10)For the wind passes over it, and it is gone. Its place remembers it no more.
Psalms 144:4(v6)Man is like a breath. His days are like a shadow that passes away.
Proverbs 14:32(v6)The wicked is brought down in his calamity, but in death, the righteous has a refuge.
Isaiah 38:12-13(v6)My dwelling is removed, and is carried away from me like a shepherd’s tent. I have rolled up my life like a weaver. He will cut me off from…
Isaiah 40:6-7(v6)The voice of one saying, “Cry!” One said, “What shall I cry?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory is like the flower of the field.…
Jeremiah 15:15(v7)Yahweh, you know. Remember me, visit me, and avenge me of my persecutors. You are patient, so don’t take me away. Know that for your sake I…
1 Peter 1:24(v6)For, “All flesh is like grass, and all of man’s glory like the flower in the grass. The grass withers, and its flower falls;
2 Samuel 12:23(v9)But now he is dead, why should I fast? Can I bring him back again? I will go to him, but he will not return to me.”
Job 6:11(v6)What is my strength, that I should wait? What is my end, that I should be patient?
Job 10:21-22(v7)before I go where I will not return from, to the land of darkness and of the shadow of death; the land dark as midnight, of the shadow of…
Job 13:15(v6)Behold, he will kill me. I have no hope. Nevertheless, I will maintain my ways before him.
Job 14:10-14(v9)But man dies, and is laid low. Yes, man gives up the spirit, and where is he? As the waters fail from the sea, and the river wastes and…
Psalms 39:13(v9)Oh spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go away and exist no more.”
Psalms 74:18(v7)Remember this, that the enemy has mocked you, Yahweh. Foolish people have blasphemed your name.
Psalms 89:50(v7)Remember, Lord, the reproach of your servants, how I bear in my heart the taunts of all the mighty peoples,
Psalms 90:5-6(v6)You sweep them away as they sleep. In the morning they sprout like new grass. In the morning it sprouts and springs up. By evening, it is…
Psalms 102:11(v6)My days are like a long shadow. I have withered like grass.
Ephesians 2:12(v6)that you were at that time separate from Christ, alienated from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of the…
James 1:11(v6)For the sun arises with the scorching wind and withers the grass, and the flower in it falls, and the beauty of its appearance perishes. So…
Genesis 42:36(v7)Jacob, their father, said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children! Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take…
Nehemiah 1:8(v7)“Remember, I beg you, the word that you commanded your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you trespass, I will scatter you among the peoples;
Job 10:9(v7)Remember, I beg you, that you have fashioned me as clay. Will you bring me into dust again?
Job 11:8(v9)They are high as heaven. What can you do? They are deeper than Sheol. What can you know?
Job 13:27(v8)You also put my feet in the stocks, and mark all my paths. You set a bound to the soles of my feet,
Job 14:3(v8)Do you open your eyes on such a one, and bring me into judgment with you?
Job 27:21(v10)The east wind carries him away, and he departs. It sweeps him out of his place.
Job 27:23(v10)Men will clap their hands at him, and will hiss him out of his place.
Job 37:11(v9)Yes, he loads the thick cloud with moisture. He spreads abroad the cloud of his lightning.
Psalms 39:11(v8)When you rebuke and correct man for iniquity, you consume his wealth like a moth. Surely every man is but a breath.”
Psalms 74:22(v7)Arise, God! Plead your own cause. Remember how the foolish man mocks you all day.
Psalms 90:8-9(v8)You have set our iniquities before you, our secret sins in the light of your presence. For all our days have passed away in your wrath. We…
Isaiah 38:11(v9)I said, “I won’t see Yah, Yah in the land of the living. I will see man no more with the inhabitants of the world.
Jeremiah 2:25(v6)“Keep your feet from being bare, and your throat from thirst. But you said, ‘It is in vain. No, for I have loved strangers, and I will go…
1 Peter 1:13(v6)Therefore prepare your minds for action. Be sober, and set your hope fully on the grace that will be brought to you at the revelation of…
48 distinct cross-references across this passage (53 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (20 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn vv6, 9Thus he speaketh in respect of the brevity of…
Thus he speaketh in respect of the brevity of man’s life, which passeth without hope of returning: in consideration whereof he desireth God to have compassion on him.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv6–10Job 7:6 My days are swifter than a weaver’s…
Job 7:6 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.
Ver. 6. My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle] Which is of a very swift and sudden motion. Nights and days pass the shuttle of man’s life forward and backward, to and again. The night casts it to the day, and the day to the night; between these two time quickly wears off the thread of life. I have cut off, like a weaver, my life, saith good Hezekiah, Isa 38:12. And the heathens hammered at this in their fiction of the three sister destinies, whereof the poet saith,
You that are weavers, saith Lavater, or lookers on them at their work, think of this text, and learn to live holy.
And they are spent without hope] Heb. In not hope. I cannot conceive that I shall ever recover, or be recruited, whatever thou, O Eliphaz, hast gone about to put me in hope. All Job’s desire was death, which he looked upon as the readiest remedy of all.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole1685 · Public DomainOn vv6–10The time of my life hastens to a period;…
The time of my life hastens to a period; and therefore vain are those hopes which you give me of a restitution to my former prosperity in this world.
A weaver’s shuttle, which passeth in a moment from one end of the web to the other.
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Without hope, to wit, of enjoying any good day here.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry1710 · Public DomainOn v7Job, observing perhaps that his friends, though they would…
Job, observing perhaps that his friends, though they would not interrupt him in his discourse, yet began to grow weary, and not to heed much what he said, here turns to God, and speaks to him. If men will not hear us, God will; if men cannot help us, he can; for his arm is not shortened, neither is his ear heavy. Yet we must not go to school to Job here to learn how to speak to God; for, it must be confessed, there is a great mixture of passion and corruption in what he here says. But, if God be not extreme to mark what his people say amiss, let us also make the best of it. Job is here begging of God either to ease him or to end him. He here represents himself to God,
I. As a dying man, surely and speedily dying. It is good for us, when we are sick, to think and speak of death, for sickness is sent on purpose to put us in mind of it; and, if we be duly mindful of it ourselves, we may in faith put God in mind of it, as Job does here (v. 7): O remember that my life is wind. He recommends himself to God as an object of his pity and compassion, with this consideration, that he was a very weak frail creature, his abode in this world short and uncertain, his removal out of it sure and speedy, and his return to it again impossible and never to be expected - that his life was wind, as the lives of all men are, noisy perhaps and blustering, like the wind, but vain and empty, soon gone, and, when gone, past recall. God had compassion on Israel, remembering that they were but flesh, a wind that passeth away and cometh not again, Psa 78:38, Psa 78:39. Observe,
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1. The pious reflections Job makes upon his own life and death. Such plain truths as these concerning the shortness and vanity of life, the unavoidableness and irrecoverableness of death, then do us good when we think and speak of them with application to ourselves. Let us consider then, (1.) That we must shortly take our leave of all the things that are seen, that are temporal. The eye of the body must be closed, and shall no more see good, the good which most men set their hearts upon; for their cry is, Who will make us to see good? Psa 4:6. If we be such fools as to place our happiness in visible good things, what will become of us when they shall be for ever hidden from our eyes, and we shall no more see good? Let us therefore live by that faith which is the substance and evidence of things not seen. (2.) That we must then remove to an invisible world: The eye of him that hath here seen me shall see me no more there. It is hadēs - an unseen state, Job 7:8. Death removes our lovers and friends into darkness (Psa 88:18), and will shortly remove us out of their sight; when we go hence we shall be seen no more (Psa 39:13), but go to converse with the things that are not seen, that are eternal. (3.) That God can easily, and in a moment, put an end to our lives, and send us to another world (Job 7:8): "Thy eyes are upon me and I am not; thou canst look me into eternity, frown me into the grave, when thou pleasest."
Shouldst thou, displeased, give me a frowning look,
I sink, I die, as if with lightning struck.
- Sir R. Blackmore
He takes away our breath, and we die; nay, he but looks on the earth and it trembles, Psa 104:29, Psa 104:30. (4.) That, when we are once removed to another world, we must never return to this. There is constant passing from this world to the other, but vestigia nulla retrorsum - there is no repassing. "Therefore, Lord, kindly ease me by death, for that will be a perpetual ease. I shall return no more to the calamities of this life." When we are dead we are gone, to return no more, [1.] From our house under ground (Job 7:9): He that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more until the general resurrection, shall come up no more to his place in this world. Dying is work that is to be done but once, and therefore it had need be well done: an error there is past retrieve. This is illustrated by the blotting out and scattering of a cloud. It is consumed and vanisheth away, is resolved into air and never knits again. Other clouds arise, but the same cloud never returns: so a new generation of the children of men is raised up, but the former generation is quite consumed and vanishes away. When we see a cloud which looks great, as if it would eclipse the sun and drawn the earth, of a sudden dispersed and disappearing, let us say, "Just such a thing is the life of man; it is a vapour that appears for a little while and then vanishes away." [2.] To return no more to our house above ground (Job 7:10): He shall return no more to his house, to the possession and enjoyment of it, to the business and delights of it. Others will take possession, and keep it till they also resign to another generation. The rich man in hell desired that Lazarus might be sent to his house, knowing it was to no purpose to ask that he might have leave to go himself. Glorified saints shall return no more to the cares, and burdens, and sorrows of their house; nor damned sinners to the gaieties and pleasures of their house. Their place shall no more know them, no more own them, have no more acquaintance with them, nor be any more under their influence. It concerns us to secure a better place when we die, for this will no more own us.
2. The passionate inference he draws from it. From these premises he might have drawn a better conclusion that this (Job 7:11): Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak; I will complain. Holy David, when he had been meditating on the frailty of human life, made a contrary use of it (Psa 39:9, I was dumb, and opened not my mouth); but Job, finding himself near expiring, hastens as much to make his complaint as if he had been to make his last will and testament or as if he could not die in peace until he had given vent to his passion. When we have but a few breaths to draw we should spend them in the holy gracious breathings of faith and prayer, not in the noisome noxious breathings of sin and corruption. Better die praying and praising than die complaining and quarrelling.
II. As a distempered man, sorely and grievously distempered both in body and mind. In this part of his representation is he is very peevish, as if God dealt hardly with him and laid upon him more than was meet: "Am I a sea, or a whale (Job 7:12), a raging sea, that must be kept within bounds, to check its proud waves, or an unruly whale, that must be restrained by force from devouring all the fishes of the sea? Am I so strong that there needs so much ado to hold me? so boisterous that no less than all these mighty bonds of affliction will serve to tame me and keep me within compass?" We are very apt, when we are in affliction, to complain of God and his providence, as if he laid more restraints upon us that there is occasion for; whereas we are never in heaviness but when there is need, nor more than the necessity demands. 1. He complains that he could not rest in his bed, Job 7:13, Job 7:14. There we promise ourselves some repose, when we are fatigued with labour, pain, or traveling: "My bed shall comfort me, and my couch shall ease my complaint. Sleep will for a time give me some relief;" it usually does so; it is appointed for that end; many a time it has eased us, and we have awaked refreshed, and with new vigour. When it is so we have great reason to be thankful; but it was not so with poor Job: his bed, instead of comforting him, terrified him; and his couch, instead of easing his complaint, added to it; for if he dropped asleep, he was disturbed with frightful dreams, and when those awaked him still he was haunted with dreadful apparitions. This was it that made the night so unwelcome and wearisome to him as it was (Job 7:4): When shall I arise? Note, God can, when he pleases, meet us with terror even where we promise ourselves ease and repose; nay, he can make us a terror to ourselves, and, as we have often contracted guilt by the rovings of an unsanctified fancy, he can likewise, by the power of our own imagination, create us much grief, and so make that our punishment which has often been our sin. In Job's dreams, though they might partly arise from his distemper (in fevers, or small pox, when the body is all over sore, it is common for the sleep to be unquiet), yet we have reason to think Satan had a hand, for he delights to terrify those whom it is out of his reach to destroy; but Job looked up to God, who permitted Satan to do this (thou scarest me), and mistook Satan's representations for the terror of God setting themselves in array against him. We have reason to pray to God that our dreams may neither defile nor disquiet us, neither tempt us to sin nor torment us with fear, that he who keeps Israel, and neither slumbers nor sleeps, may keep us when we slumber and sleep, that the devil may not then do us a mischief, either as an insinuating serpent or as a roaring lion, and to bless God if we lie down and our sleep is sweet and we are not thus scared. 2. He covets to rest in his grave, that bed where there are no tossings to and fro, nor any frightful dreams, Job 7:15, Job 7:16. (1.) He was sick of life, and hated the thoughts of it: "I loathe it; I have had enough of it. I would not live always, not only not live always in this condition, in pain and misery, but not live always in the most easy and prosperous condition, to be continually in danger of being thus reduced. My days are vanity at the best, empty of solid comfort, exposed to real griefs; and I would not be for ever tied to such uncertainty." Note, A good man would not (if he might) life always in this world, no, not though it smile upon him, because it is a world of sin and temptation and he has a better world in prospect. (2.) He was fond of death, and pleased himself with the thoughts of it: his soul (his judgment, he thought, but really it was his passion) chose strangling and death rather than life; any death rather than such a life as this. Doubtless this was Job's infirmity; for though a good man would not wish to live always in this world, and would choose strangling and death rather than sin, as the martyrs did, yet he will be content to live as long as pleases God, not choose death rather than life, because life is our opportunity of glorifying God and getting ready for heaven.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv6–10My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle,.... Which…
My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle,.... Which moves very swiftly, being thrown quick and fast to and fro; some versions render it "a racer" (b) one that runs a race on foot, or rides on horseback, agreeably to Job 9:25; where, and in Job 7:7; to it, other similes are used, to set forth the swiftness and fleetness of man's days; as they also are elsewhere represented, as swift as a tale told, a word expressed, or a thought conceived, Psa 90:9; and so here, by the Septuagint, are said to be "swifter than speech", though wrongly translated: this is to be understood, not of his days of affliction, distress, and sorrow; for these in his apprehension moved but slowly, and he could have been, glad that they had gone on faster; but either his days in common, or particularly his days of prosperity and pleasure, these were soon over with him; and which he sometimes wished for again, see Job 29:1,
and are spent without hope; not without hope of happiness in another world, but without hope of being restored to his outward felicity in this; which Eliphaz had given him some him of, but he had no hope concerning it; see Job 5:24.
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(b) Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion in Drusius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley1765 · Public DomainOn vv6–10Swifter - The time of my life hastens to…
Swifter - The time of my life hastens to a period. Shuttle - Which passes in a moment from one end of the web to the other. Hope - Of enjoying any good day here.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv6–10Verse 6. Swifter than a weaver's shuttle] The word…
Verse 6. Swifter than a weaver's shuttle] The word ארג areg signifies rather the weaver than his shuttle. And it has been doubted whether any such instrument were in use in the days of Job. Dr. Russell, in his account of Aleppo, shows that though they wove many kinds of curious cloth, yet no shuttle was used, as they conducted every thread of the woof by their fingers. That some such instrument as the shuttle was in use from time immemorial, there can be no doubt: and it is certain that such an instrument must have been in the view of Job, without which the figure would lose its expression and force. In almost every nation the whole of human existence has been compared to a web; and the principle of life, through the continual succession of moments, hours, days, weeks, months, and years, to a thread woven through that web. Hence arose the fable of the Parcae or Fates, called also the Destinies or Fatal Sisters. They were the daughters of Erebus and Nox, darkness and night; and were three in number, and named Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. Clotho held the distaff; Lachesis spun off the thread; and Atropos cut it off with her scissors, when it was determined that life should end. Job represents the thread of his life as being spun out with great rapidity and tenuity, and about to be cut off.
And are spent without hope.] Expectation of future good was at an end; hope of the alleviation of his miseries no longer existed. The hope of future good is the balm of life: where that is not, there is despair; where despair is, there is hell. The fable above mentioned is referred to by Virgil, Ecl. iv., ver. 46, but is there applied to time: -
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Talia Secla, suis dixerunt, currite, fusis
Concordes stabili fatorum numine Parcae.
"The FATES, when they this happy thread have spun
Shall bless the sacred clue, and bid it smoothly run."
DRYDEN.
Isaiah uses the same figure, Isa 38:12: -
My life is cut off, as by the weaver:
He will sever me from the loom.
In the course of the day thou wilt finish my web.
LOWTH.
Coverdale translates thus: My dayes passe over more spedely then a weaver can weave out his webbe and are gone or I am awarre.
A fine example of this figure is found in the Teemour Nameh, which I shall give in Mr. Good's translation: -
"Praise be to God, who hath woven the web of human affairs in the loom of his will and of his wisdom, and hath made waves of times and of seasons to flow from the fountain of his providence into the ocean of his power." The simile is fine, and elegantly expressed.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn vv7, 9Job 7:7-8. O remember — He turns his speech…
Job 7:7-8. O remember — He turns his speech to God; perhaps observing that his friends grew weary of hearing it. If men will not hear us, God will: if men cannot help us, he can: for his arm is not shortened, neither is his ear heavy. The eye, &c., shall see me no more — In this mortal state: I shall never return to this life again. Thine eyes are upon me, and I am not — If thou cast one angry look upon me, I am not; that is, I am a dead man: or, when thine eyes shall be upon me, that is, when thou shalt look for me to do me good, thou wilt find that I am not, that I am dead and gone, and incapable of enjoying that bounty and goodness which thou givest to men in this world.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes1834 · Public DomainOn vv6–10My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle -…
My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle - That is, they are short and few. He does not here refer so much to the rapidity with which they were passing away as to the fact that they would soon be gone, and that he was likely to be cut off without being permitted to enjoy the blessings of a long life; compare the notes at Isa 38:12. The weaver’s shuttle is the instrument by which the weaver inserts the filling in the woof. With us few things would furnish a more striking emblem of rapidity than the speed with which a weaver throws his shuttle from one side of the web to the other. It would seem that such was the fact among the ancients, though the precise manner in which they wove their cloth, is unknown. It was common to compare life with a web, which was filled up by the successive days. The ancient Classical writers spoke of it as a web woven by the Fates. We can all feel the force of the comparison used here by Job, that the days which we live fly swift away. How rapidly is one after another added to the web of life! How soon will the whole web be filled up, and life be closed! A few more shoots of the shuttle and all will be over, and our life will be cut off, as the weaver removes one web from the loom to make way for another. How important to improve the fleeting moments, and to live as if we were soon to see the rapid shuttle flying for the last time!
And are spent without hope - Without hope of recovery, or of future happiness on earth. It does not mean that he had no hope of happiness in the world to come. But such were his trials here, and so entirely had his comforts been removed, that he had no prospect of again enjoying life.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary1859 · Public DomainOn vv6–10Web. Hebrew, "the weaver’s shuttle," chap. xvi. 23., and…
Web. Hebrew, "the weaver’s shuttle," chap. xvi. 23., and Isaias xxxviii. 12. (Haydock) --- The pagans have used the same comparison. But they make the three daughters of Necessity guide the thread of life. (Plato, Rep. xii.; Natal. iii. 6.) --- Septuagint, "my life is swifter than speech." Tetrapla, "than a runner." (Calmet) --- Hope. Heu fugit, &c. Ah! time is flying , never to return! (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown1871 · Public DomainOn vv6–10(Isa 38:12). Every day like the weaver's shuttle leaves…
(Isa 38:12). Every day like the weaver's shuttle leaves a thread behind; and each shall wear, as he weaves. But Job's thought is that his days must swiftly be cut off as a web;
without hope--namely, of a recovery and renewal of life (Job 14:19; Ch1 29:15).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon1874 · Public DomainOn vv6–106. A weaver’s shuttle — The art of weaving…
6. A weaver’s shuttle — The art of weaving reaches back to the dawn of civilization. It was carried to a high state of proficiency among the Egyptians, as is seen in the specimens of mummy clothing which still remain, and which are pronounced to be not inferior to the finest cambrics of modern times. (Wilkinson.) Hezekiah likened the cutting off of his life to a weaver’s cutting off of his thread. Thus in Arabsha’s life of Taimur we read: “Verily the thread of life is joined to that which cuts it: and the texture of existence is knitted together with death.” An acute writer has said, “Perhaps no angelic mind has quickness of thought enough to fix on a moment as present.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges1878 · Public DomainOn vv6–96. By his “days” is meant his life as…
6. By his “days” is meant his life as a whole, not his individual days, which are far from passing quickly (Job_7:4); and “are spent” means, have been consumed (as Job_7:9), or, are come to an end (Gen_21:15). He regards his life as near a close, for his disease was incurable; this is expressed by “without hope,” i. e. hope of recovery or relief.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers1878 · Public DomainOn vv8–10(8) Shall see me no more.—That is, thine own…
(8) Shall see me no more.—That is, thine own eyes shall look for me, but I shall be no more. So LXX. and Vulg.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary1880 · Public DomainOn vv6–10My days are swifter than a weaver"s shuttle. Though…
My days are swifter than a weaver"s shuttle. Though each day is a weariness, yet, on looking back upon my whole life, it seems to have come and gone in a moment. (comp. Job_9:25) And are spent without hope. Job does not share in the hopes which Eliphaz has held out. (Job_5:17-27) He has no hope but in death.
Vers. 6-9. The speedy flight of life.
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In the multitude of his thoughts within him, Job glances at many of the painful aspects of life. His view is influenced by the condition of his spirit. With a longing for the grave, he nevertheless mourns over the rapid flight of his few days upon earth. Such a reflection every one may wisely make. Consider the expressive similes in which Job sees his hasty life represented.
1. His days are swifter than the weaver"s shuttle (ver. 6).
2. They are as the wind (ver. 7).
3. They are as the glance of the eye (ver. 8).
4. They are as the cloud which is consumed, and which vanisheth away (ver. 9).
To what course of conduct should such a reflection lead? If life be so swiftly passed, can anything be done to abate its apparent evil? What is becoming to him whose days thus flee away?
1. A diligent and careful use and husbanding of time.
2. A concentration of attention on life"s essential work, avoiding all frivolous occupations of time which rob the soul of its days and leave no residuum of blessing or benefit.
3. A careful guard against confining the pursuits of life to those things which can be attained only in this present world.
4. A just estimate of the value of immortality, and a due attention to the interests that relate to it.
5. A patient endurance of life"s sorrows, seeing they will soon close; and a moderate absorption in life"s pleasures, for they speedily pass away. Life is very brief, but it is long enough to enable every one to lay hold on eternal life, to prepare himself for that eternal life, and to do work that hereafter may be reflected upon with pleasure. R.G.
The weaver"s shuttle.
This is one of the many emblems of the brevity of life which carry a certain subtle suggestiveness of deeper meanings in spite of the minimizing pessimism that seems to be their sole prompting cause. The shuttle flies swiftly across the web. What does this fact suggest?
I THE MELANCHOLY BREVITY OF LIFE. "The velocity of time," says Seneca, "is infinite, and is most apparent to those who look back." This is one of the most trite topics of conventional moralists. Yet it is one which each individual man feels with a startled shock of surprise when it comes directly home to him in experience. We say that life is short, but we do not believe it till we are reminded of the fact by ugly surprises. Then we feel that the flying shuttle, the melting shadow, the tale hastening to a close, are not more transitory than life. We are but creatures of a day in the light of God"s eternity.
II THE VANITY OF EARTHLY AMBITIONS. We lay our foundations, but we have not time to put the corner-stone on our cherished design before we are called hence. The tools drop from our hands ere we have accomplished our purposes. The mirage of life fades before its paradise has been attained. We start with great hopes, but our hairs are gray before we have begun to realize them, and we are in our graves before they are fulfilled.
III THE FOLLY OF IMPATIENCE. Let us be fair. If the joys of life are fleeting, so also are its pains. Though our lot be hard, the hardship will not be long. Job seems to complain that, if life is so short, it is cruel to spoil it with trouble. It seems sad that so little a day should be robbed of its brief sunshine. But, on the other hand, if the day is one of pain and bitterness, may we not be thankful that the evening hasteneth on?
IV THE DUTY OF UNSELFISHNESS. We make too much of our own individual lives, as though the world existed for ourselves. This is like the shuttle fancying that the loom belongs to it, and was made entirely to suit its convenience. Nay, it is worse: it is like the shuttle thinking the loom was made for one throw, one thread. We must learn to understand that we exist for a larger purpose. Slowly enough the great web of time is woven, though each throw of the shuttle is so swift. God is thinking of the whole.
V THE MYSTERY OF A DIVINE PURPOSE. The shuttle knows not why it is flung across the threads. But it is working out an unseen design. The seemingly aimless and wasted throw is essential to the weaving of the pattern of the whole fabric. God has a purpose with each of our lives. Even the briefest life which is lived in obedience to God cannot be wasted. God"s great loom will work it into his eternal design.
VI THE NECESSITY OF A FUTURE LIFE. The animals are satisfied with their ephemeral existence. They have no melancholy reflections on the brevity of life. It is only to man that this earthly existence seems to be contemptibly short. Why? Because in his breast there dwells the instinct of immortality an instinct whose very existence is a mute prophecy of its future satisfaction, since he who planted it will not disappoint it. The shuttle is not destroyed after its swift flight. This brief life carries us on to the endless ages of the Divine future. W.F.A.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator1887 · Public DomainOn v6My days are swifter than a weavers shuttle.
Job_7:6
My days are swifter than a weavers shuttle.
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The web of life
These words fitly describe the quickness with which the days of our life glide away. The weaver at his frame swiftly throws the shuttle from side to side, backwards and forwards, and every throw leaves a thread behind it, which is woven into the piece of cloth he is making. And Job compares human life to the shuttles motions.
I. The swiftness of our days. When anything is gone, and gone forever, we begin to think more of its value. Man is like a thing of nought--his time passeth away like a shadow.
II. Each day has added another thread to the web of life. What is our life but a collection of days? Each day adds something to the colour and complexion of the whole life--something for good or evil. Thus each day is, as it were, a representative of the whole life. Of how great importance then is every day!
III. We weave now what we wear in eternity. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Scriptures declare that our life will be brought into evidence to show whether we were believers in Christ or not. Then let us ask ourselves these questions--
1. On what are we resting our hope of salvation?
2. Is it our sincere desire to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ?
3. Do we live in the spirit of prayer?
4. How has the day of our life been spent? What have we done for Gods glory? (E. Blencowe, M. A.)
The web of life
I. The swiftness of our days. We are apt not to prize them till they are gone. Each was full of mercies: did we appreciate them? Each was full of opportunities: did we use them wisely or abuse them?
II. Each day adds a thread to the web of life. Each day has its influence for good or evil, for sin or holiness, for God or Satan.
III. What we now weave we shall wear in eternity. What is the web your life is weaving? Application--
1. On what are you resting your hopes of salvation?
2. Is it your sincere desire to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus?
3. Do you live in the spirit of prayer?
4. Consider at the close of each day how it has been spent.
5. What, on the whole, is the texture and colouring of the web of your life as you look upon it in the light of another dying or opening year? (Homiletic Review.)
The web of life
A Christian mans life is laid in the loom of time to a pattern which he does not see, but God does: and his heart is a shuttle. On one side of the loom is sorrow, and on the other joy; and the shuttle, struck alternately by each, flies back and forth, carrying the thread, which is white or black as the pattern needs. And in the end, when God shall lift up the finished garment and all its changing hues shall glance out, it will then appear that the deep and dark colours were as needful to beauty as the bright and high colours. (H. W. Beecher.)
Lifes brevity
How brief it is! Who stood sentinel by the gate of Shushan when the royal couriers, bearing hope to the Jews, dashed through, burying their spurs in their horses flanks--who stood on the platform by the iron rails that stretch from Holyhead to London, when signals flashed on along the line to stop the traffic and keep all clear, an engine and carriage dashed by with tidings of peace or war from America--saw an image of life. The eagle poising herself a moment on the wing, and then rushing at her prey; the ship that throwing the spray from her bows, scuds before the gale; the shuttle flashing through the loom; the shadow of a cloud sweeping the hillside, and then gone forever; the summer flowers that vanishing, have left our gardens bare, and where were spread out the colours of the rainbow, only dull, black earth, or the rotting wreck of beauty--these with many other fleeting things, are emblems by which God through nature teaches us how frail we are, at the longest how short our days. (T. Guthrie.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield1917 · Public DomainOn v9Heb. "Sheol." Hab 2:5. (See Scofield "Hab 2:5").
grave
Heb. "Sheol." Hab 2:5. (See Scofield "Hab 2:5").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann1924 · Public DomainOn v9Job Arraigns God
Job Arraigns God
v. 9. As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away, the vapor disappearing in the dry air of the wilderness, so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more, if he is once in the realm of the dead, he cannot return to the former life on earth.
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v. 10. He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place, his home, know him any more, this earthly life is past forever, so far as he is concerned.
v. 11. Therefore, since God had practically abandoned him to dwell in the realm of the dead, I will not refrain my mouth, put no restraint on his speech; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit, in the bitterness and pain which possessed his soul; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul, because his soul was so disturbed and troubled; he threw aside, for once, the awe which he ordinarily showed in the presence of God.
v. 12. Am I a sea or a whale, some monster of the deep, that Thou set test a watch over me? He felt himself watched, shut in, by God, like a dangerous creature which might threaten to overwhelm the world.
v. 13. When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease, help bear, my complaint, a fact which is usually the case,
v. 14. then Thou scarest me with dreams, shaking him thereby to prevent his resting in comfort, and terrifiest me through visions, in consequence of them,
v. 15. so that my soul chooseth strangling, in wishing that the asthma which accompanied his illness might choke him, and death rather than my life, literally, "than these bones," that is, in preference to having his body reduced to a skeleton.
v. 16. I loathe it, he was disgusted with this life; I would not live alway, on account of the unendurable pain which he suffered. Let me alone, he asked God to withdraw His chastening hand from him; for my days are vanity, a puff of breath which vanishes away.
v. 17. What is man that Thou shouldest magnify him? and that Thou shouldest set Thine heart upon him? the bitter irony of this passage consists in Job’s asking why the great and majestic God should single out him, insignificant as he was, for the object of ever new and unceasing sufferings,
v. 18. and that Thou shouldest visit him every morning and try him every moment, putting his patience and power to a continuous test?
v. 19. How long wilt Thou not depart from me, looking away from him, turning His attention to some other object upon which He might vent His wrath, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle, at least for a little instant, for one moment of time?
v. 20. I have sinned; what shall I do unto Thee, O thou Preserver of men? The thought is really conditional: If I have sinned, what harm could thereby strike Thee; what detriment would be caused to Thy great glory and majesty! Why hast Thou set me as a mark against Thee, a target, or mark, for every blow, so that I am a burden to myself, which the Lord Himself would try to shake off?
v. 21. And why dost Thou not pardon my transgression and take away mine iniquity, pardon his guilt, since the end was now so near? For now shall I sleep in the dust; and Thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be. He requests God’s immediate help, fearing that else he must die. The thought in the speech of Job is that of an accusation of cruelty on the part of God, an idea which may readily become blasphemous, if not driven away by a proper regard for the righteousness of God at all times.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv6, 8General Information:
General Information:
The writer continues to use parallelism in each of these verses, conveying a single idea using two different statements to emphasize Job's sense of the shortness of life. (See: Parallelism)
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My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle
Job compares his lifetime to the quickness of a weaver's shuttle. AT: "My life goes by very quickly" (See: Simile)
weaver
a person who makes cloth by crossing threads or yarn
a weaver's shuttle
a moving part that carries thread or yarn back and forth quickly in a loom when making cloth
call to mind
"remember." The phrase "call to mind" does not mean God forgot. Job is asking God to consider or think about the shortness of Job's life.
my life is only a breath
Job compares the shortness of his life to the shortness of a breath. AT: "my life is very short, like taking one breath" (See: Metaphor)
my eye will no more see good
Here "my eye" represents Job's whole person and his ability to see or experience things. AT: "I will never again experience good things" (See: Synecdoche)
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv6–97:6-21 Job cried out to God, complaining that life…
7:6-21 Job cried out to God, complaining that life was too brief (7:6-10). This complaint contrasts ironically with his earlier desire that God end it all (6:9).
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv6, 9 Thus he speaketh in respect of the brevity of…
Thus he speaketh in respect of the brevity of man’s life, which passeth without hope of returning: in consideration whereof he desireth God to have compassion on him.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv6–10 Job 7:6 My days are swifter than a weaver’s…
Job 7:6 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.
Ver. 6. My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle] Which is of a very swift and sudden motion. Nights and days pass the shuttle of man’s life forward and backward, to and again. The night casts it to the day, and the day to the night; between these two time quickly wears off the thread of life. I have cut off, like a weaver, my life, saith good Hezekiah, Isa 38:12. And the heathens hammered at this in their fiction of the three sister destinies, whereof the poet saith,
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Clotho colum baiulat, Lachesis trahit, Atropos occat.
You that are weavers, saith Lavater, or lookers on them at their work, think of this text, and learn to live holy.
And they are spent without hope] Heb. In not hope. I cannot conceive that I shall ever recover, or be recruited, whatever thou, O Eliphaz, hast gone about to put me in hope. All Job’s desire was death, which he looked upon as the readiest remedy of all.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv6–10 The time of my life hastens to a period;…
The time of my life hastens to a period; and therefore vain are those hopes which you give me of a restitution to my former prosperity in this world.
A weaver’s shuttle, which passeth in a moment from one end of the web to the other.
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Without hope, to wit, of enjoying any good day here.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v7 Job, observing perhaps that his friends, though they would…
Job, observing perhaps that his friends, though they would not interrupt him in his discourse, yet began to grow weary, and not to heed much what he said, here turns to God, and speaks to him. If men will not hear us, God will; if men cannot help us, he can; for his arm is not shortened, neither is his ear heavy. Yet we must not go to school to Job here to learn how to speak to God; for, it must be confessed, there is a great mixture of passion and corruption in what he here says. But, if God be not extreme to mark what his people say amiss, let us also make the best of it. Job is here begging of God either to ease him or to end him. He here represents himself to God,
I. As a dying man, surely and speedily dying. It is good for us, when we are sick, to think and speak of death, for sickness is sent on purpose to put us in mind of it; and, if we be duly mindful of it ourselves, we may in faith put God in mind of it, as Job does here (v. 7): O remember that my life is wind. He recommends himself to God as an object of his pity and compassion, with this consideration, that he was a very weak frail creature, his abode in this world short and uncertain, his removal out of it sure and speedy, and his return to it again impossible and never to be expected - that his life was wind, as the lives of all men are, noisy perhaps and blustering, like the wind, but vain and empty, soon gone, and, when gone, past recall. God had compassion on Israel, remembering that they were but flesh, a wind that passeth away and cometh not again, Psa 78:38, Psa 78:39. Observe,
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1. The pious reflections Job makes upon his own life and death. Such plain truths as these concerning the shortness and vanity of life, the unavoidableness and irrecoverableness of death, then do us good when we think and speak of them with application to ourselves. Let us consider then, (1.) That we must shortly take our leave of all the things that are seen, that are temporal. The eye of the body must be closed, and shall no more see good, the good which most men set their hearts upon; for their cry is, Who will make us to see good? Psa 4:6. If we be such fools as to place our happiness in visible good things, what will become of us when they shall be for ever hidden from our eyes, and we shall no more see good? Let us therefore live by that faith which is the substance and evidence of things not seen. (2.) That we must then remove to an invisible world: The eye of him that hath here seen me shall see me no more there. It is hadēs - an unseen state, Job 7:8. Death removes our lovers and friends into darkness (Psa 88:18), and will shortly remove us out of their sight; when we go hence we shall be seen no more (Psa 39:13), but go to converse with the things that are not seen, that are eternal. (3.) That God can easily, and in a moment, put an end to our lives, and send us to another world (Job 7:8): "Thy eyes are upon me and I am not; thou canst look me into eternity, frown me into the grave, when thou pleasest."
Shouldst thou, displeased, give me a frowning look,
I sink, I die, as if with lightning struck.
- Sir R. Blackmore
He takes away our breath, and we die; nay, he but looks on the earth and it trembles, Psa 104:29, Psa 104:30. (4.) That, when we are once removed to another world, we must never return to this. There is constant passing from this world to the other, but vestigia nulla retrorsum - there is no repassing. "Therefore, Lord, kindly ease me by death, for that will be a perpetual ease. I shall return no more to the calamities of this life." When we are dead we are gone, to return no more, [1.] From our house under ground (Job 7:9): He that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more until the general resurrection, shall come up no more to his place in this world. Dying is work that is to be done but once, and therefore it had need be well done: an error there is past retrieve. This is illustrated by the blotting out and scattering of a cloud. It is consumed and vanisheth away, is resolved into air and never knits again. Other clouds arise, but the same cloud never returns: so a new generation of the children of men is raised up, but the former generation is quite consumed and vanishes away. When we see a cloud which looks great, as if it would eclipse the sun and drawn the earth, of a sudden dispersed and disappearing, let us say, "Just such a thing is the life of man; it is a vapour that appears for a little while and then vanishes away." [2.] To return no more to our house above ground (Job 7:10): He shall return no more to his house, to the possession and enjoyment of it, to the business and delights of it. Others will take possession, and keep it till they also resign to another generation. The rich man in hell desired that Lazarus might be sent to his house, knowing it was to no purpose to ask that he might have leave to go himself. Glorified saints shall return no more to the cares, and burdens, and sorrows of their house; nor damned sinners to the gaieties and pleasures of their house. Their place shall no more know them, no more own them, have no more acquaintance with them, nor be any more under their influence. It concerns us to secure a better place when we die, for this will no more own us.
2. The passionate inference he draws from it. From these premises he might have drawn a better conclusion that this (Job 7:11): Therefore I will not refrain my mouth; I will speak; I will complain. Holy David, when he had been meditating on the frailty of human life, made a contrary use of it (Psa 39:9, I was dumb, and opened not my mouth); but Job, finding himself near expiring, hastens as much to make his complaint as if he had been to make his last will and testament or as if he could not die in peace until he had given vent to his passion. When we have but a few breaths to draw we should spend them in the holy gracious breathings of faith and prayer, not in the noisome noxious breathings of sin and corruption. Better die praying and praising than die complaining and quarrelling.
II. As a distempered man, sorely and grievously distempered both in body and mind. In this part of his representation is he is very peevish, as if God dealt hardly with him and laid upon him more than was meet: "Am I a sea, or a whale (Job 7:12), a raging sea, that must be kept within bounds, to check its proud waves, or an unruly whale, that must be restrained by force from devouring all the fishes of the sea? Am I so strong that there needs so much ado to hold me? so boisterous that no less than all these mighty bonds of affliction will serve to tame me and keep me within compass?" We are very apt, when we are in affliction, to complain of God and his providence, as if he laid more restraints upon us that there is occasion for; whereas we are never in heaviness but when there is need, nor more than the necessity demands. 1. He complains that he could not rest in his bed, Job 7:13, Job 7:14. There we promise ourselves some repose, when we are fatigued with labour, pain, or traveling: "My bed shall comfort me, and my couch shall ease my complaint. Sleep will for a time give me some relief;" it usually does so; it is appointed for that end; many a time it has eased us, and we have awaked refreshed, and with new vigour. When it is so we have great reason to be thankful; but it was not so with poor Job: his bed, instead of comforting him, terrified him; and his couch, instead of easing his complaint, added to it; for if he dropped asleep, he was disturbed with frightful dreams, and when those awaked him still he was haunted with dreadful apparitions. This was it that made the night so unwelcome and wearisome to him as it was (Job 7:4): When shall I arise? Note, God can, when he pleases, meet us with terror even where we promise ourselves ease and repose; nay, he can make us a terror to ourselves, and, as we have often contracted guilt by the rovings of an unsanctified fancy, he can likewise, by the power of our own imagination, create us much grief, and so make that our punishment which has often been our sin. In Job's dreams, though they might partly arise from his distemper (in fevers, or small pox, when the body is all over sore, it is common for the sleep to be unquiet), yet we have reason to think Satan had a hand, for he delights to terrify those whom it is out of his reach to destroy; but Job looked up to God, who permitted Satan to do this (thou scarest me), and mistook Satan's representations for the terror of God setting themselves in array against him. We have reason to pray to God that our dreams may neither defile nor disquiet us, neither tempt us to sin nor torment us with fear, that he who keeps Israel, and neither slumbers nor sleeps, may keep us when we slumber and sleep, that the devil may not then do us a mischief, either as an insinuating serpent or as a roaring lion, and to bless God if we lie down and our sleep is sweet and we are not thus scared. 2. He covets to rest in his grave, that bed where there are no tossings to and fro, nor any frightful dreams, Job 7:15, Job 7:16. (1.) He was sick of life, and hated the thoughts of it: "I loathe it; I have had enough of it. I would not live always, not only not live always in this condition, in pain and misery, but not live always in the most easy and prosperous condition, to be continually in danger of being thus reduced. My days are vanity at the best, empty of solid comfort, exposed to real griefs; and I would not be for ever tied to such uncertainty." Note, A good man would not (if he might) life always in this world, no, not though it smile upon him, because it is a world of sin and temptation and he has a better world in prospect. (2.) He was fond of death, and pleased himself with the thoughts of it: his soul (his judgment, he thought, but really it was his passion) chose strangling and death rather than life; any death rather than such a life as this. Doubtless this was Job's infirmity; for though a good man would not wish to live always in this world, and would choose strangling and death rather than sin, as the martyrs did, yet he will be content to live as long as pleases God, not choose death rather than life, because life is our opportunity of glorifying God and getting ready for heaven.
Matthew Henry's Commentary on the Whole Bible (1708–1710) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv6–10 My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle,.... Which…
My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle,.... Which moves very swiftly, being thrown quick and fast to and fro; some versions render it "a racer" (b) one that runs a race on foot, or rides on horseback, agreeably to Job 9:25; where, and in Job 7:7; to it, other similes are used, to set forth the swiftness and fleetness of man's days; as they also are elsewhere represented, as swift as a tale told, a word expressed, or a thought conceived, Psa 90:9; and so here, by the Septuagint, are said to be "swifter than speech", though wrongly translated: this is to be understood, not of his days of affliction, distress, and sorrow; for these in his apprehension moved but slowly, and he could have been, glad that they had gone on faster; but either his days in common, or particularly his days of prosperity and pleasure, these were soon over with him; and which he sometimes wished for again, see Job 29:1,
and are spent without hope; not without hope of happiness in another world, but without hope of being restored to his outward felicity in this; which Eliphaz had given him some him of, but he had no hope concerning it; see Job 5:24.
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(b) Aquila, Symmachus, Theodotion in Drusius.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv6–10 Swifter - The time of my life hastens to…
Swifter - The time of my life hastens to a period. Shuttle - Which passes in a moment from one end of the web to the other. Hope - Of enjoying any good day here.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv6–10 Verse 6. Swifter than a weaver's shuttle] The word…
Verse 6. Swifter than a weaver's shuttle] The word ארג areg signifies rather the weaver than his shuttle. And it has been doubted whether any such instrument were in use in the days of Job. Dr. Russell, in his account of Aleppo, shows that though they wove many kinds of curious cloth, yet no shuttle was used, as they conducted every thread of the woof by their fingers. That some such instrument as the shuttle was in use from time immemorial, there can be no doubt: and it is certain that such an instrument must have been in the view of Job, without which the figure would lose its expression and force. In almost every nation the whole of human existence has been compared to a web; and the principle of life, through the continual succession of moments, hours, days, weeks, months, and years, to a thread woven through that web. Hence arose the fable of the Parcae or Fates, called also the Destinies or Fatal Sisters. They were the daughters of Erebus and Nox, darkness and night; and were three in number, and named Clotho, Lachesis, and Atropos. Clotho held the distaff; Lachesis spun off the thread; and Atropos cut it off with her scissors, when it was determined that life should end. Job represents the thread of his life as being spun out with great rapidity and tenuity, and about to be cut off.
And are spent without hope.] Expectation of future good was at an end; hope of the alleviation of his miseries no longer existed. The hope of future good is the balm of life: where that is not, there is despair; where despair is, there is hell. The fable above mentioned is referred to by Virgil, Ecl. iv., ver. 46, but is there applied to time: -
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Talia Secla, suis dixerunt, currite, fusis
Concordes stabili fatorum numine Parcae.
"The FATES, when they this happy thread have spun
Shall bless the sacred clue, and bid it smoothly run."
DRYDEN.
Isaiah uses the same figure, Isa 38:12: -
My life is cut off, as by the weaver:
He will sever me from the loom.
In the course of the day thou wilt finish my web.
LOWTH.
Coverdale translates thus: My dayes passe over more spedely then a weaver can weave out his webbe and are gone or I am awarre.
A fine example of this figure is found in the Teemour Nameh, which I shall give in Mr. Good's translation: -
"Praise be to God, who hath woven the web of human affairs in the loom of his will and of his wisdom, and hath made waves of times and of seasons to flow from the fountain of his providence into the ocean of his power." The simile is fine, and elegantly expressed.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv7, 9 Job 7:7-8. O remember — He turns his speech…
Job 7:7-8. O remember — He turns his speech to God; perhaps observing that his friends grew weary of hearing it. If men will not hear us, God will: if men cannot help us, he can: for his arm is not shortened, neither is his ear heavy. The eye, &c., shall see me no more — In this mortal state: I shall never return to this life again. Thine eyes are upon me, and I am not — If thou cast one angry look upon me, I am not; that is, I am a dead man: or, when thine eyes shall be upon me, that is, when thou shalt look for me to do me good, thou wilt find that I am not, that I am dead and gone, and incapable of enjoying that bounty and goodness which thou givest to men in this world.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv6–10 My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle -…
My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle - That is, they are short and few. He does not here refer so much to the rapidity with which they were passing away as to the fact that they would soon be gone, and that he was likely to be cut off without being permitted to enjoy the blessings of a long life; compare the notes at Isa 38:12. The weaver’s shuttle is the instrument by which the weaver inserts the filling in the woof. With us few things would furnish a more striking emblem of rapidity than the speed with which a weaver throws his shuttle from one side of the web to the other. It would seem that such was the fact among the ancients, though the precise manner in which they wove their cloth, is unknown. It was common to compare life with a web, which was filled up by the successive days. The ancient Classical writers spoke of it as a web woven by the Fates. We can all feel the force of the comparison used here by Job, that the days which we live fly swift away. How rapidly is one after another added to the web of life! How soon will the whole web be filled up, and life be closed! A few more shoots of the shuttle and all will be over, and our life will be cut off, as the weaver removes one web from the loom to make way for another. How important to improve the fleeting moments, and to live as if we were soon to see the rapid shuttle flying for the last time!
And are spent without hope - Without hope of recovery, or of future happiness on earth. It does not mean that he had no hope of happiness in the world to come. But such were his trials here, and so entirely had his comforts been removed, that he had no prospect of again enjoying life.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv6–10 Web. Hebrew, "the weaver’s shuttle," chap. xvi. 23., and…
Web. Hebrew, "the weaver’s shuttle," chap. xvi. 23., and Isaias xxxviii. 12. (Haydock) --- The pagans have used the same comparison. But they make the three daughters of Necessity guide the thread of life. (Plato, Rep. xii.; Natal. iii. 6.) --- Septuagint, "my life is swifter than speech." Tetrapla, "than a runner." (Calmet) --- Hope. Heu fugit, &c. Ah! time is flying , never to return! (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv6–10 (Isa 38:12). Every day like the weaver's shuttle leaves…
(Isa 38:12). Every day like the weaver's shuttle leaves a thread behind; and each shall wear, as he weaves. But Job's thought is that his days must swiftly be cut off as a web;
without hope--namely, of a recovery and renewal of life (Job 14:19; Ch1 29:15).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv6–10 6. A weaver’s shuttle — The art of weaving…
6. A weaver’s shuttle — The art of weaving reaches back to the dawn of civilization. It was carried to a high state of proficiency among the Egyptians, as is seen in the specimens of mummy clothing which still remain, and which are pronounced to be not inferior to the finest cambrics of modern times. (Wilkinson.) Hezekiah likened the cutting off of his life to a weaver’s cutting off of his thread. Thus in Arabsha’s life of Taimur we read: “Verily the thread of life is joined to that which cuts it: and the texture of existence is knitted together with death.” An acute writer has said, “Perhaps no angelic mind has quickness of thought enough to fix on a moment as present.”
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv6–9 6. By his “days” is meant his life as…
6. By his “days” is meant his life as a whole, not his individual days, which are far from passing quickly (Job_7:4); and “are spent” means, have been consumed (as Job_7:9), or, are come to an end (Gen_21:15). He regards his life as near a close, for his disease was incurable; this is expressed by “without hope,” i. e. hope of recovery or relief.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv8–10 (8) Shall see me no more.—That is, thine own…
(8) Shall see me no more.—That is, thine own eyes shall look for me, but I shall be no more. So LXX. and Vulg.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv6–10 My days are swifter than a weaver"s shuttle. Though…
My days are swifter than a weaver"s shuttle. Though each day is a weariness, yet, on looking back upon my whole life, it seems to have come and gone in a moment. (comp. Job_9:25) And are spent without hope. Job does not share in the hopes which Eliphaz has held out. (Job_5:17-27) He has no hope but in death.
Vers. 6-9. The speedy flight of life.
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In the multitude of his thoughts within him, Job glances at many of the painful aspects of life. His view is influenced by the condition of his spirit. With a longing for the grave, he nevertheless mourns over the rapid flight of his few days upon earth. Such a reflection every one may wisely make. Consider the expressive similes in which Job sees his hasty life represented.
1. His days are swifter than the weaver"s shuttle (ver. 6).
2. They are as the wind (ver. 7).
3. They are as the glance of the eye (ver. 8).
4. They are as the cloud which is consumed, and which vanisheth away (ver. 9).
To what course of conduct should such a reflection lead? If life be so swiftly passed, can anything be done to abate its apparent evil? What is becoming to him whose days thus flee away?
1. A diligent and careful use and husbanding of time.
2. A concentration of attention on life"s essential work, avoiding all frivolous occupations of time which rob the soul of its days and leave no residuum of blessing or benefit.
3. A careful guard against confining the pursuits of life to those things which can be attained only in this present world.
4. A just estimate of the value of immortality, and a due attention to the interests that relate to it.
5. A patient endurance of life"s sorrows, seeing they will soon close; and a moderate absorption in life"s pleasures, for they speedily pass away. Life is very brief, but it is long enough to enable every one to lay hold on eternal life, to prepare himself for that eternal life, and to do work that hereafter may be reflected upon with pleasure. R.G.
The weaver"s shuttle.
This is one of the many emblems of the brevity of life which carry a certain subtle suggestiveness of deeper meanings in spite of the minimizing pessimism that seems to be their sole prompting cause. The shuttle flies swiftly across the web. What does this fact suggest?
I THE MELANCHOLY BREVITY OF LIFE. "The velocity of time," says Seneca, "is infinite, and is most apparent to those who look back." This is one of the most trite topics of conventional moralists. Yet it is one which each individual man feels with a startled shock of surprise when it comes directly home to him in experience. We say that life is short, but we do not believe it till we are reminded of the fact by ugly surprises. Then we feel that the flying shuttle, the melting shadow, the tale hastening to a close, are not more transitory than life. We are but creatures of a day in the light of God"s eternity.
II THE VANITY OF EARTHLY AMBITIONS. We lay our foundations, but we have not time to put the corner-stone on our cherished design before we are called hence. The tools drop from our hands ere we have accomplished our purposes. The mirage of life fades before its paradise has been attained. We start with great hopes, but our hairs are gray before we have begun to realize them, and we are in our graves before they are fulfilled.
III THE FOLLY OF IMPATIENCE. Let us be fair. If the joys of life are fleeting, so also are its pains. Though our lot be hard, the hardship will not be long. Job seems to complain that, if life is so short, it is cruel to spoil it with trouble. It seems sad that so little a day should be robbed of its brief sunshine. But, on the other hand, if the day is one of pain and bitterness, may we not be thankful that the evening hasteneth on?
IV THE DUTY OF UNSELFISHNESS. We make too much of our own individual lives, as though the world existed for ourselves. This is like the shuttle fancying that the loom belongs to it, and was made entirely to suit its convenience. Nay, it is worse: it is like the shuttle thinking the loom was made for one throw, one thread. We must learn to understand that we exist for a larger purpose. Slowly enough the great web of time is woven, though each throw of the shuttle is so swift. God is thinking of the whole.
V THE MYSTERY OF A DIVINE PURPOSE. The shuttle knows not why it is flung across the threads. But it is working out an unseen design. The seemingly aimless and wasted throw is essential to the weaving of the pattern of the whole fabric. God has a purpose with each of our lives. Even the briefest life which is lived in obedience to God cannot be wasted. God"s great loom will work it into his eternal design.
VI THE NECESSITY OF A FUTURE LIFE. The animals are satisfied with their ephemeral existence. They have no melancholy reflections on the brevity of life. It is only to man that this earthly existence seems to be contemptibly short. Why? Because in his breast there dwells the instinct of immortality an instinct whose very existence is a mute prophecy of its future satisfaction, since he who planted it will not disappoint it. The shuttle is not destroyed after its swift flight. This brief life carries us on to the endless ages of the Divine future. W.F.A.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v6 My days are swifter than a weavers shuttle.
Job_7:6
My days are swifter than a weavers shuttle.
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The web of life
These words fitly describe the quickness with which the days of our life glide away. The weaver at his frame swiftly throws the shuttle from side to side, backwards and forwards, and every throw leaves a thread behind it, which is woven into the piece of cloth he is making. And Job compares human life to the shuttles motions.
I. The swiftness of our days. When anything is gone, and gone forever, we begin to think more of its value. Man is like a thing of nought--his time passeth away like a shadow.
II. Each day has added another thread to the web of life. What is our life but a collection of days? Each day adds something to the colour and complexion of the whole life--something for good or evil. Thus each day is, as it were, a representative of the whole life. Of how great importance then is every day!
III. We weave now what we wear in eternity. Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. Scriptures declare that our life will be brought into evidence to show whether we were believers in Christ or not. Then let us ask ourselves these questions--
1. On what are we resting our hope of salvation?
2. Is it our sincere desire to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus Christ?
3. Do we live in the spirit of prayer?
4. How has the day of our life been spent? What have we done for Gods glory? (E. Blencowe, M. A.)
The web of life
I. The swiftness of our days. We are apt not to prize them till they are gone. Each was full of mercies: did we appreciate them? Each was full of opportunities: did we use them wisely or abuse them?
II. Each day adds a thread to the web of life. Each day has its influence for good or evil, for sin or holiness, for God or Satan.
III. What we now weave we shall wear in eternity. What is the web your life is weaving? Application--
1. On what are you resting your hopes of salvation?
2. Is it your sincere desire to be conformed to the likeness of Jesus?
3. Do you live in the spirit of prayer?
4. Consider at the close of each day how it has been spent.
5. What, on the whole, is the texture and colouring of the web of your life as you look upon it in the light of another dying or opening year? (Homiletic Review.)
The web of life
A Christian mans life is laid in the loom of time to a pattern which he does not see, but God does: and his heart is a shuttle. On one side of the loom is sorrow, and on the other joy; and the shuttle, struck alternately by each, flies back and forth, carrying the thread, which is white or black as the pattern needs. And in the end, when God shall lift up the finished garment and all its changing hues shall glance out, it will then appear that the deep and dark colours were as needful to beauty as the bright and high colours. (H. W. Beecher.)
Lifes brevity
How brief it is! Who stood sentinel by the gate of Shushan when the royal couriers, bearing hope to the Jews, dashed through, burying their spurs in their horses flanks--who stood on the platform by the iron rails that stretch from Holyhead to London, when signals flashed on along the line to stop the traffic and keep all clear, an engine and carriage dashed by with tidings of peace or war from America--saw an image of life. The eagle poising herself a moment on the wing, and then rushing at her prey; the ship that throwing the spray from her bows, scuds before the gale; the shuttle flashing through the loom; the shadow of a cloud sweeping the hillside, and then gone forever; the summer flowers that vanishing, have left our gardens bare, and where were spread out the colours of the rainbow, only dull, black earth, or the rotting wreck of beauty--these with many other fleeting things, are emblems by which God through nature teaches us how frail we are, at the longest how short our days. (T. Guthrie.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v9 Heb. "Sheol." Hab 2:5. (See Scofield "Hab 2:5").
grave
Heb. "Sheol." Hab 2:5. (See Scofield "Hab 2:5").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v9 Job Arraigns God
Job Arraigns God
v. 9. As the cloud is consumed and vanisheth away, the vapor disappearing in the dry air of the wilderness, so he that goeth down to the grave shall come up no more, if he is once in the realm of the dead, he cannot return to the former life on earth.
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v. 10. He shall return no more to his house, neither shall his place, his home, know him any more, this earthly life is past forever, so far as he is concerned.
v. 11. Therefore, since God had practically abandoned him to dwell in the realm of the dead, I will not refrain my mouth, put no restraint on his speech; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit, in the bitterness and pain which possessed his soul; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul, because his soul was so disturbed and troubled; he threw aside, for once, the awe which he ordinarily showed in the presence of God.
v. 12. Am I a sea or a whale, some monster of the deep, that Thou set test a watch over me? He felt himself watched, shut in, by God, like a dangerous creature which might threaten to overwhelm the world.
v. 13. When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease, help bear, my complaint, a fact which is usually the case,
v. 14. then Thou scarest me with dreams, shaking him thereby to prevent his resting in comfort, and terrifiest me through visions, in consequence of them,
v. 15. so that my soul chooseth strangling, in wishing that the asthma which accompanied his illness might choke him, and death rather than my life, literally, "than these bones," that is, in preference to having his body reduced to a skeleton.
v. 16. I loathe it, he was disgusted with this life; I would not live alway, on account of the unendurable pain which he suffered. Let me alone, he asked God to withdraw His chastening hand from him; for my days are vanity, a puff of breath which vanishes away.
v. 17. What is man that Thou shouldest magnify him? and that Thou shouldest set Thine heart upon him? the bitter irony of this passage consists in Job’s asking why the great and majestic God should single out him, insignificant as he was, for the object of ever new and unceasing sufferings,
v. 18. and that Thou shouldest visit him every morning and try him every moment, putting his patience and power to a continuous test?
v. 19. How long wilt Thou not depart from me, looking away from him, turning His attention to some other object upon which He might vent His wrath, nor let me alone till I swallow down my spittle, at least for a little instant, for one moment of time?
v. 20. I have sinned; what shall I do unto Thee, O thou Preserver of men? The thought is really conditional: If I have sinned, what harm could thereby strike Thee; what detriment would be caused to Thy great glory and majesty! Why hast Thou set me as a mark against Thee, a target, or mark, for every blow, so that I am a burden to myself, which the Lord Himself would try to shake off?
v. 21. And why dost Thou not pardon my transgression and take away mine iniquity, pardon his guilt, since the end was now so near? For now shall I sleep in the dust; and Thou shalt seek me in the morning, but I shall not be. He requests God’s immediate help, fearing that else he must die. The thought in the speech of Job is that of an accusation of cruelty on the part of God, an idea which may readily become blasphemous, if not driven away by a proper regard for the righteousness of God at all times.
Paul E. Kretzmann, Popular Commentary of the Bible (1921–1924) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv6, 8 General Information:
General Information:
The writer continues to use parallelism in each of these verses, conveying a single idea using two different statements to emphasize Job's sense of the shortness of life. (See: Parallelism)
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My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle
Job compares his lifetime to the quickness of a weaver's shuttle. AT: "My life goes by very quickly" (See: Simile)
weaver
a person who makes cloth by crossing threads or yarn
a weaver's shuttle
a moving part that carries thread or yarn back and forth quickly in a loom when making cloth
call to mind
"remember." The phrase "call to mind" does not mean God forgot. Job is asking God to consider or think about the shortness of Job's life.
my life is only a breath
Job compares the shortness of his life to the shortness of a breath. AT: "my life is very short, like taking one breath" (See: Metaphor)
my eye will no more see good
Here "my eye" represents Job's whole person and his ability to see or experience things. AT: "I will never again experience good things" (See: Synecdoche)
translationWords
hope
God
call
mind
life
breath
good
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv6–9 7:6-21 Job cried out to God, complaining that life…
7:6-21 Job cried out to God, complaining that life was too brief (7:6-10). This complaint contrasts ironically with his earlier desire that God end it all (6:9).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.