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.
Job 20:9(vv8, 10)The eye which saw him will see him no more, neither will his place see him any more.
Job 8:18(vv8, 10)If he is destroyed from his place, then it will deny him, saying, ‘I have not seen you.’
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.
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Psalms 37:36(v8)But he passed away, and behold, he was not. Yes, I sought him, but he could not be found.
Psalms 103:16(v10)For the wind passes over it, and it is gone. Its place remembers it no more.
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 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…
Job 16:22(v9)For when a few years have come, I will go the way of no return.
Psalms 39:13(v9)Oh spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go away and exist no more.”
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 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.
20 distinct cross-references across this passage (22 total citations).
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (18 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Geneva Bible translators1599 · Public DomainOn v9Shall no more enjoy this mortal life.
Shall no more enjoy this mortal life.
If thou behold me in thine anger, I shall not be able to stand in thy presence.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp1656 · Public DomainOn vv8–10Job 7:8 The eye of him that hath seen…
Job 7:8 The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no [more]: thine eyes [are] upon me, and I [am] not.
Ver. 8. The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more] In death we shall neither see nor be seen, but be soon both out of sight and out of mind too. It is told of Richard III, that he caused the dead corpse of his two smothered nephews to be closed in lead, and so put in a coffin full of holes, and hooked at the ends with two hooks of iron, and so to be cast into a place called the black deeps, at the Thames’ mouth, whereby they should never rise up, nor be any more seen (Speed. 935). Such a place is the grave till the last day: for then the sea shall give up the dead which are in it, and death and the grave shall render up the dead which are in them, Rev 20:13, then shall Adam see all his nephews at once, &c.
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Thine eyes are upon me, and I am not] Thou even lookest me to death; like as elsewhere God is said to frown men to destruction, Psa 80:16 Psa 104:29; they are not able to endure his flaming eyes, sparkling out wrath against them. What mad men therefore are they that speak and act against him who can so easily do them to death! If God but set his eyes upon them for evil (as he oft threateneth to do, Amo 9:4 Job 16:9), they are undone.
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 vv8–10Shall see me no more in this mortal state;…
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: either,
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1. If thou dost but east one angry look upon me, I am not, i.e. I am a dead man. So that phrase is used Gen 5:24; 42:13; 44:20; Psa 103:16; Jer 31:15. Or,
2. When thine eyes shall be upon me (i.e. when thou shalt look for me to do me good, thou wilt find that) I am not, that I am dead and gone, and uncapable of that bounty and goodness which thou givest to men in this world. Compare Job 7:21; Psa 10:15; Jer 50:20.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill1763 · Public DomainOn vv8–10The eye of him that hath seen me shall…
The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more,.... Or "the eye of sight" (e); the seeing eye, the most acute and quick sighted eye; so Mr. Broughton renders it, "the quick eye" (f): this is to be understood as "after" (g) death, that then the sharpest eye should not see him, he would be out of the reach of it; which must be taken with a limitation; for men after death are seen by the eyes of the omniscient God, their souls, be they in heaven or in hell, and their bodies in the grave; and as for good men, such as Job, they are at once with him in his immediate presence, beholding and beheld by him; and they are seen by angels, whose care and charge their souls become immediately upon death, and are carried by them into heaven, where they are fellow worshippers with them; and they are seen by glorified saints, to whose company they are joined; for if the rich man in hell could see Abraham, and Lazarus in his bosom, Luk 16:23, then much more do the saints see one another: but the meaning is, that when a man is dead, he is seen no more by men on earth, by his relations, friends, and acquaintance; the consideration of which is a cutting stroke at parting, see Act 20:25; the state of the dead is an invisible state, and therefore called in the Greek tongue "Hades", "unseen"; so the dead will remain, with respect to the inhabitants of this world, till the resurrection, and then they shall see and be seen again in the same bodies they now have; for this is no denial of the resurrection of the dead, as some Jewish writers charge Job with, and infer from this and some following passages:
thine eyes are upon me, and I am not; am a dead man, a phrase expressive of death, and of being in the state of the dead, or however of being no more in this world, see Gen 5:24; not that the dead are nonentities, or are reduced to nothing; this is not true of them, either with respect to soul or body; their souls are immaterial and immoral, and exist in a separate state after death, and their bodies, though reduced to dust, are not annihilated; they return to earth and dust, from whence they came; but still they are something, they are earth and dust, unless these can be thought to be nothing; and this dust is taken care of and preserved, and will be gathered together, and moulded, and framed, and fashioned into bodies again, which will endure for ever: nor is the meaning, that they are nowhere; the spirits of just men made perfect are in heaven, in paradise, in a state of life, immortality, and bliss; and the souls of the wicked are in their own place, in the prison of hell, reserved with devils, to the judgment of the great day; and the bodies of both are in the graves till the day of the resurrection; but they are not, and no more, in the land of the living, in their houses and families, in their shops and business, and places of trade and merchandise, or in the house of God serving him there, according to their different stations. And this Job ascribes to God, "thine eyes are upon me": meaning not his eyes of love, favour, and kindness, which had respect unto him; and yet, notwithstanding this, as it did not secure him from afflictions, so neither would it from death itself; for "though his eyes were upon him" in such sense, yet he "would not be" (a), or should die; but rather his angry eyes, the frowns of his countenance, which were now upon him, and might be discerned in the dispensations of his providence towards him, by reason of which he "was not" as he was before; not fit for anything, as Sephorno understands it; or should he frown upon him, one angry look would sink him into the state of the dead, and he should be no more, who "looks on the earth, and it trembles", Psa 104:32. Mr. Broughton renders it as a petition, "let thine eyes be upon me, that I be no more"; that is, let me die, the same request he made in Job 6:8; but it seems best to interpret it or the eyes of God's omnipresence and providence, which are on men in every state and place; and the sense be, either as granting, that though the eyes of men should not see him after death, yet the eyes of God would be upon him when he was not, or in the state of the fiend; or else, that should he long defer doing him good, it would be too late, he should soon die, and then, though he should look after him, and seek for him, he should not be in the land of the living, according to Job 7:21; or this may denote the suddenness of death, which comes to a man in a moment, as Bar Tzemach observes, in the twinkling of an eye; nay, as soon as the eye of God is upon a man, that is, as soon almost as a man appears in the world, and the eye of Divine Providence is upon him, he is out of it again, and is no more; see Ecc 3:2.
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(e) Heb. "oculus visus", Drusius, Piscator; "aspectus", Mercerus; so Simeon Bar Tzemach. (f) "Ocuium perspicacissimum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. (g) Posthac, Tigurine version. (a) "Etiam oculis tuis ad me respicientibus, me non fore amplius", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
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 vv8–10No more - In this mortal state: I shall…
No more - In this mortal state: I shall never return to this life again. Am not - If thou cast one angry look upon me, I am not; thou canst look me into eternity.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke1810 · Public DomainOn vv8–10Verse 8. Shall see me no more] If I…
Verse 8. Shall see me no more] If I die in my present state, with all this load of undeserved odium which is cast upon me by my friends, I shall never have an opportunity of vindicating my character, and regaining the good opinion of mankind.
Thine eyes are upon one, and I am not.] Thou canst look me into nothing. Or, Let thine eye be upon me as judged to death, and I shall immediately cease to live among men.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson1811 · Public DomainOn v9Job 7:9-10. As the cloud is consumed — Being…
Job 7:9-10. As the cloud is consumed — Being dissolved by the heat of the sun. And vanisheth away — Never to return again. So he that goeth down, &c., shall come up no more — Never until the general resurrection. When you see a cloud, which looked great, as if it would eclipse the sun, of a sudden dispersed and disappearing, say, Just such a thing is the life of man, a vapour that appears for a while and then vanisheth away. He shall return no more to his house — He shall no more be seen and known in his former habitation. It concerns us to secure a better place when we die: for this will own us no more.
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 vv8–10The eye of him that hath seen me shall…
The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more - I shall be cut off from all my friends - one of the things which most distresses people when they come to die.
Thine eyes are upon me, and I am not - see Job 7:21. Dr. Good renders this, “let thine eye be upon me, and I am nothing.” Herder, “thine eye will seek me, but I am no more.” According to this the sense is, that he was soon to be removed from the place where he had dwelt, and that should he be sought there he could not be found. He would seem to represent God as looking for him, and not finding him; see Job 7:21. The margin has,” I can live no longer.” It may be possible that this is the meaning, that God had fixed an intense gaze upon him, and that he could not survive it. If this is the sense, then it accords with the descriptions given of the majesty of God everywhere in the Scriptures - that nothing could endure His presence, that even the earth trembles, and the mountains melt away, at his touch. Thus, in Psa 104:32 :
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He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth;
He toucheth the hills, and they smoke.
Compare the representation of the power of the eye in Job 16:9 :
He teareth me in his wrath who hateth me;
He gnasheth upon me with his teeth
Mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me.
On the whole, I think it probable that this is the sense here. There is an energy in the original which is greatly enfeebled in the common translation. God had fixed his eyes upon Job, and he at once disappeared; compare Rev 20:11 : “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them.”
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 vv8–10Eyes, in anger, (Calmet) or thy mercy will come…
Eyes, in anger, (Calmet) or thy mercy will come too late when I shall be no more.
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 vv8–10The eye of him who beholds me (present, not…
The eye of him who beholds me (present, not past), that is, in the very act of beholding me, seeth me no more.
Thine eyes are upon me, and I am not--He disappears, even while God is looking upon him. Job cannot survive the gaze of Jehovah (Psa 104:32; Rev 20:11). Not, "Thine eyes seek me and I am not to be found"; for God's eye penetrates even to the unseen world (Psa 139:8). UMBREIT unnaturally takes "thine" to refer to one of the three friends.
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 vv8–108. And I am not — Compare Rev_20:11. When…
8. And I am not — Compare Rev_20:11. When God maketh requisition for man, he at once ceases to be. God looks upon him and he is not.
A drop that trembles on the lotus leaf;
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Such is this life, so soon dispelled, so brief.
— Buddhistic Hymn, by Sankara.
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 vv8–98. are upon me, and I am not] Perhaps…
8. are upon me, and I am not] Perhaps rather, shall be upon me and I shall not be; God will look for him, enquiring, it may be, after the work of His hands, but he shall be gone; cf. Job_7:21.
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 vv8–10The eye of him that hath seen me shall…
The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more; that is, I shall go down to the grave, and be no more seen upon earth. Neither friend nor enemy shall behold me after that. Thine eyes. God"s eyes. God still sees him and watches him; this is a certain consolation; but will it last? Are upon me, and I am not. I am on the point of disappearing. Even now I scarcely exist.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — 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 v8General 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 thought that, after death, neither God nor the people he knew will see him again. (See: Parallelism)
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The eye of God, who sees me, will see me no more
Many versions of the Bible translate this as "The eye which sees me will see me no more." The words "of God" were added to this phrase because they are implied by the context. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
The eye of God, who sees me ... God's eyes will be on me
Here God is represented by his "eye" to emphasize what he looks at. AT: "God who watches me ... God will look for me" (See: Synecdoche)
As a cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he who goes down to Sheol will come up no more
Job is describing death as being like the clouds that disappear. (See: Simile)
As a cloud is consumed
This can be expressed in active form. AT: "As a cloud fades" (See: Active or Passive)
he who goes down to Sheol will come up no more
"he who dies will not return"
his place
The words "his place" represent those who live in his place. AT: "the people who live in his place" or "his family" (See: Metonymy)
Tyndale Open Study Notes2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0On vv8–97:8 You see me now, but not for long:…
7:8 You see me now, but not for long: The Greek Old Testament omitted this verse to avoid the implication that God would be unable to see Job in Sheol (see study note on 7:9).
GEBible — Godless Engineer's Bible App
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On v9 Shall no more enjoy this mortal life.
Shall no more enjoy this mortal life.
If thou behold me in thine anger, I shall not be able to stand in thy presence.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv8–10 Job 7:8 The eye of him that hath seen…
Job 7:8 The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no [more]: thine eyes [are] upon me, and I [am] not.
Ver. 8. The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more] In death we shall neither see nor be seen, but be soon both out of sight and out of mind too. It is told of Richard III, that he caused the dead corpse of his two smothered nephews to be closed in lead, and so put in a coffin full of holes, and hooked at the ends with two hooks of iron, and so to be cast into a place called the black deeps, at the Thames’ mouth, whereby they should never rise up, nor be any more seen (Speed. 935). Such a place is the grave till the last day: for then the sea shall give up the dead which are in it, and death and the grave shall render up the dead which are in them, Rev 20:13, then shall Adam see all his nephews at once, &c.
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Thine eyes are upon me, and I am not] Thou even lookest me to death; like as elsewhere God is said to frown men to destruction, Psa 80:16 Psa 104:29; they are not able to endure his flaming eyes, sparkling out wrath against them. What mad men therefore are they that speak and act against him who can so easily do them to death! If God but set his eyes upon them for evil (as he oft threateneth to do, Amo 9:4 Job 16:9), they are undone.
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 vv8–10 Shall see me no more in this mortal state;…
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: either,
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1. If thou dost but east one angry look upon me, I am not, i.e. I am a dead man. So that phrase is used Gen 5:24; 42:13; 44:20; Psa 103:16; Jer 31:15. Or,
2. When thine eyes shall be upon me (i.e. when thou shalt look for me to do me good, thou wilt find that) I am not, that I am dead and gone, and uncapable of that bounty and goodness which thou givest to men in this world. Compare Job 7:21; Psa 10:15; Jer 50:20.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv8–10 The eye of him that hath seen me shall…
The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more,.... Or "the eye of sight" (e); the seeing eye, the most acute and quick sighted eye; so Mr. Broughton renders it, "the quick eye" (f): this is to be understood as "after" (g) death, that then the sharpest eye should not see him, he would be out of the reach of it; which must be taken with a limitation; for men after death are seen by the eyes of the omniscient God, their souls, be they in heaven or in hell, and their bodies in the grave; and as for good men, such as Job, they are at once with him in his immediate presence, beholding and beheld by him; and they are seen by angels, whose care and charge their souls become immediately upon death, and are carried by them into heaven, where they are fellow worshippers with them; and they are seen by glorified saints, to whose company they are joined; for if the rich man in hell could see Abraham, and Lazarus in his bosom, Luk 16:23, then much more do the saints see one another: but the meaning is, that when a man is dead, he is seen no more by men on earth, by his relations, friends, and acquaintance; the consideration of which is a cutting stroke at parting, see Act 20:25; the state of the dead is an invisible state, and therefore called in the Greek tongue "Hades", "unseen"; so the dead will remain, with respect to the inhabitants of this world, till the resurrection, and then they shall see and be seen again in the same bodies they now have; for this is no denial of the resurrection of the dead, as some Jewish writers charge Job with, and infer from this and some following passages:
thine eyes are upon me, and I am not; am a dead man, a phrase expressive of death, and of being in the state of the dead, or however of being no more in this world, see Gen 5:24; not that the dead are nonentities, or are reduced to nothing; this is not true of them, either with respect to soul or body; their souls are immaterial and immoral, and exist in a separate state after death, and their bodies, though reduced to dust, are not annihilated; they return to earth and dust, from whence they came; but still they are something, they are earth and dust, unless these can be thought to be nothing; and this dust is taken care of and preserved, and will be gathered together, and moulded, and framed, and fashioned into bodies again, which will endure for ever: nor is the meaning, that they are nowhere; the spirits of just men made perfect are in heaven, in paradise, in a state of life, immortality, and bliss; and the souls of the wicked are in their own place, in the prison of hell, reserved with devils, to the judgment of the great day; and the bodies of both are in the graves till the day of the resurrection; but they are not, and no more, in the land of the living, in their houses and families, in their shops and business, and places of trade and merchandise, or in the house of God serving him there, according to their different stations. And this Job ascribes to God, "thine eyes are upon me": meaning not his eyes of love, favour, and kindness, which had respect unto him; and yet, notwithstanding this, as it did not secure him from afflictions, so neither would it from death itself; for "though his eyes were upon him" in such sense, yet he "would not be" (a), or should die; but rather his angry eyes, the frowns of his countenance, which were now upon him, and might be discerned in the dispensations of his providence towards him, by reason of which he "was not" as he was before; not fit for anything, as Sephorno understands it; or should he frown upon him, one angry look would sink him into the state of the dead, and he should be no more, who "looks on the earth, and it trembles", Psa 104:32. Mr. Broughton renders it as a petition, "let thine eyes be upon me, that I be no more"; that is, let me die, the same request he made in Job 6:8; but it seems best to interpret it or the eyes of God's omnipresence and providence, which are on men in every state and place; and the sense be, either as granting, that though the eyes of men should not see him after death, yet the eyes of God would be upon him when he was not, or in the state of the fiend; or else, that should he long defer doing him good, it would be too late, he should soon die, and then, though he should look after him, and seek for him, he should not be in the land of the living, according to Job 7:21; or this may denote the suddenness of death, which comes to a man in a moment, as Bar Tzemach observes, in the twinkling of an eye; nay, as soon as the eye of God is upon a man, that is, as soon almost as a man appears in the world, and the eye of Divine Providence is upon him, he is out of it again, and is no more; see Ecc 3:2.
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(e) Heb. "oculus visus", Drusius, Piscator; "aspectus", Mercerus; so Simeon Bar Tzemach. (f) "Ocuium perspicacissimum", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator. (g) Posthac, Tigurine version. (a) "Etiam oculis tuis ad me respicientibus, me non fore amplius", Junius & Tremellius, Piscator.
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 vv8–10 No more - In this mortal state: I shall…
No more - In this mortal state: I shall never return to this life again. Am not - If thou cast one angry look upon me, I am not; thou canst look me into eternity.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv8–10 Verse 8. Shall see me no more] If I…
Verse 8. Shall see me no more] If I die in my present state, with all this load of undeserved odium which is cast upon me by my friends, I shall never have an opportunity of vindicating my character, and regaining the good opinion of mankind.
Thine eyes are upon one, and I am not.] Thou canst look me into nothing. Or, Let thine eye be upon me as judged to death, and I shall immediately cease to live among men.
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 v9 Job 7:9-10. As the cloud is consumed — Being…
Job 7:9-10. As the cloud is consumed — Being dissolved by the heat of the sun. And vanisheth away — Never to return again. So he that goeth down, &c., shall come up no more — Never until the general resurrection. When you see a cloud, which looked great, as if it would eclipse the sun, of a sudden dispersed and disappearing, say, Just such a thing is the life of man, a vapour that appears for a while and then vanisheth away. He shall return no more to his house — He shall no more be seen and known in his former habitation. It concerns us to secure a better place when we die: for this will own us no more.
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 vv8–10 The eye of him that hath seen me shall…
The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more - I shall be cut off from all my friends - one of the things which most distresses people when they come to die.
Thine eyes are upon me, and I am not - see Job 7:21. Dr. Good renders this, “let thine eye be upon me, and I am nothing.” Herder, “thine eye will seek me, but I am no more.” According to this the sense is, that he was soon to be removed from the place where he had dwelt, and that should he be sought there he could not be found. He would seem to represent God as looking for him, and not finding him; see Job 7:21. The margin has,” I can live no longer.” It may be possible that this is the meaning, that God had fixed an intense gaze upon him, and that he could not survive it. If this is the sense, then it accords with the descriptions given of the majesty of God everywhere in the Scriptures - that nothing could endure His presence, that even the earth trembles, and the mountains melt away, at his touch. Thus, in Psa 104:32 :
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He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth;
He toucheth the hills, and they smoke.
Compare the representation of the power of the eye in Job 16:9 :
He teareth me in his wrath who hateth me;
He gnasheth upon me with his teeth
Mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me.
On the whole, I think it probable that this is the sense here. There is an energy in the original which is greatly enfeebled in the common translation. God had fixed his eyes upon Job, and he at once disappeared; compare Rev 20:11 : “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them.”
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 vv8–10 Eyes, in anger, (Calmet) or thy mercy will come…
Eyes, in anger, (Calmet) or thy mercy will come too late when I shall be no more.
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 vv8–10 The eye of him who beholds me (present, not…
The eye of him who beholds me (present, not past), that is, in the very act of beholding me, seeth me no more.
Thine eyes are upon me, and I am not--He disappears, even while God is looking upon him. Job cannot survive the gaze of Jehovah (Psa 104:32; Rev 20:11). Not, "Thine eyes seek me and I am not to be found"; for God's eye penetrates even to the unseen world (Psa 139:8). UMBREIT unnaturally takes "thine" to refer to one of the three friends.
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 vv8–10 8. And I am not — Compare Rev_20:11. When…
8. And I am not — Compare Rev_20:11. When God maketh requisition for man, he at once ceases to be. God looks upon him and he is not.
A drop that trembles on the lotus leaf;
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Such is this life, so soon dispelled, so brief.
— Buddhistic Hymn, by Sankara.
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 vv8–9 8. are upon me, and I am not] Perhaps…
8. are upon me, and I am not] Perhaps rather, shall be upon me and I shall not be; God will look for him, enquiring, it may be, after the work of His hands, but he shall be gone; cf. Job_7:21.
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 vv8–10 The eye of him that hath seen me shall…
The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more; that is, I shall go down to the grave, and be no more seen upon earth. Neither friend nor enemy shall behold me after that. Thine eyes. God"s eyes. God still sees him and watches him; this is a certain consolation; but will it last? Are upon me, and I am not. I am on the point of disappearing. Even now I scarcely exist.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — 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 v8 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 thought that, after death, neither God nor the people he knew will see him again. (See: Parallelism)
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The eye of God, who sees me, will see me no more
Many versions of the Bible translate this as "The eye which sees me will see me no more." The words "of God" were added to this phrase because they are implied by the context. (See: Assumed Knowledge and Implicit Information)
The eye of God, who sees me ... God's eyes will be on me
Here God is represented by his "eye" to emphasize what he looks at. AT: "God who watches me ... God will look for me" (See: Synecdoche)
As a cloud is consumed and vanishes away, so he who goes down to Sheol will come up no more
Job is describing death as being like the clouds that disappear. (See: Simile)
As a cloud is consumed
This can be expressed in active form. AT: "As a cloud fades" (See: Active or Passive)
he who goes down to Sheol will come up no more
"he who dies will not return"
his place
The words "his place" represent those who live in his place. AT: "the people who live in his place" or "his family" (See: Metonymy)
translationWords
God
consume
Hades
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 vv8–9 7:8 You see me now, but not for long:…
7:8 You see me now, but not for long: The Greek Old Testament omitted this verse to avoid the implication that God would be unable to see Job in Sheol (see study note on 7:9).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.