Job 7:1

The Brevity of Life

7:1 “Does not humanity have hard service ¹  on earth?

Are not their days also

like the days of a hired man? ² 

Job 7:17

Insignificance of Humans

7:17 “What is mankind ³  that you make so much of them, ⁴ 

and that you pay attention ⁵  to them?

Job 10:4-5

Motivations of God

10:4 “Do you have eyes of flesh, ⁶ 

or do you see ⁷  as a human being sees? ⁸ 

10:5 Are your days like the days of a mortal,

or your years like the years ⁹  of a mortal,

Job 15:14

15:14 What is man that he should be pure,

or one born of woman, that he should be righteous?

Job 25:6

25:6 how much less a mortal man, who is but a maggot ¹⁰  –

a son of man, who is only a worm!”

Job 28:13

28:13 Mankind does not know its place; ¹¹ 

it cannot be found in the land of the living.

Job 32:8

32:8 But it is a spirit in people,

the breath ¹²  of the Almighty,

that makes them understand.

Job 34:34

34:34 Men of understanding say to me –

any wise man listening to me says –

Job 36:25

36:25 All humanity has seen it;

people gaze on it from afar.

Job 37:24

37:24 Therefore people fear him,

for he does not regard all the wise in heart.” ¹³ 

[7:1]  ¹ tn The word צָבָא (tsava’) is actually “army”; it can be used for the hard service of military service as well as other toil. As a military term it would include the fixed period of duty (the time) and the hard work (toil). Job here is considering the lot of all humans, not just himself.

[7:1]  ² tn The שָׂכִיר (sakhir) is a hired man, either a man who works for wages, or a mercenary soldier (Jer 46:21). The latter sense may be what is intended here in view of the parallelism, although the next verse seems much broader.

[7:17]  ³ tn The verse is a rhetorical question; it is intended to mean that man is too little for God to be making so much over him in all this.

[7:17]  ⁴ tn The Piel verb is a factitive meaning “to magnify.” The English word “magnify” might not be the best translation here, for God, according to Job, is focusing inordinately on him. It means to magnify in thought, appreciate, think highly of. God, Job argues, is making too much of mankind by devoting so much bad attention on them.

[7:17]  ⁵ tn The expression “set your heart on” means “concentrate your mind on” or “pay attention to.”

[10:4]  ⁵ tn Here “flesh” is the sign of humanity. The expression “eyes of flesh” means essentially “human eyes,” i.e., the outlook and vision of humans.

[10:4]  ⁶ sn The verb translated “see” could also include the figurative category of perceive as well. The answer to Job’s question is found in 1 Sam 16:7: “The Lord sees not as a man sees; man looks on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart.”

[10:4]  ⁷ sn In this verse Job asks whether or not God is liable to making mistakes or errors of judgment. He wonders if God has no more insight than his friends have. Of course, the questions are rhetorical, for he knows otherwise. But his point is that God seems to be making a big mistake here.

[10:5]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew has repeated here “like the days of,” but some scholars think that this was an accidental replacement of what should be here, namely, “like the years of.” D. J. A. Clines notes that such repetition is not uncommon in Job, but suggests that the change should be made for English style even if the text is not emended (Job [WBC], 221). This has been followed in the present translation.

[25:6]  ⁹ tn The text just has “maggot” and in the second half “worm.” Something has to be added to make it a bit clearer. The terms “maggot” and “worm” describe man in his lowest and most ignominious shape.

[28:13]  ¹¹ tc The LXX has “its way, apparently reading דַּרְכָה (darkhah) in place of עֶרְכָּהּ (’erkah, “place”). This is adopted by most modern commentators. But R. Gordis (Job, 308) shows that this change is not necessary, for עֶרֶךְ (’erekh) in the Bible means “order; row; disposition,” and here “place.” An alternate meaning would be “worth” (NIV, ESV).

[32:8]  ¹³ tn This is the word נְשָׁמָה (nÿshamah, “breath”); according to Gen 2:7 it was breathed into Adam to make him a living person (“soul”). With that divine impartation came this spiritual understanding. Some commentators identify the רוּחַ (ruakh) in the first line as the Spirit of God; this “breath” would then be the human spirit. Whether Elihu knew that much, however, is hard to prove.

[37:24]  ¹⁵ sn The phrase “wise of heart” was used in Job 9:4 in a negative sense.