Job 9:25

Renewed Complaint

9:25 “My days are swifter than a runner,

they speed by without seeing happiness.

Job 14:1

The Brevity of Life

14:1 “Man, born of woman,

lives but a few days, and they are full of trouble.


tn The text has “and my days” following the thoughts in the previous section.

sn Job returns to the thought of the brevity of his life (7:6). But now the figure is the swift runner instead of the weaver’s shuttle.

tn The first of the threefold apposition for אָדָם (’adam, “man”) is “born of a woman.” The genitive (“woman”) after a passive participle denotes the agent of the action (see GKC 359 §116.l).

tn The second description is simply “[is] short of days.” The meaning here is that his life is short (“days” being put as the understatement for “years”).

tn The third expression is “consumed/full/sated – with/of – trouble/restlessness.” The latter word, רֹגֶז (rogez), occurred in Job 3:17; see also the idea in 10:15.