Job 7:13
in Job 7When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint,
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
When I say, My bed shall comfort me, My couch shall ease my complaint;
KJV
When I say, My bed shall comfort me, my couch shall ease my complaint;
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This verse in Job 7
Commentary
6 notes on this verseWhen I say my bed shall comfort me, I shall be eased in speaking with myself on my couch, then Thou scarest me with dreams, and terrifiest me through visions. For in Holy Writ a 'bed,' a 'couch,' or 'litter,' is usually taken for the secret depth of the heart. For it is hence that under the likeness of each separate soul, the Spouse, urged by the piercing darts of holy love, says in the Song of Songs, By night on my bed I sought him, whom my soul loveth.
This site's exposition
When I think my bed will comfort me
on Job 7:13-16
Even sleep is taken from Job: when he thinks "my bed will comfort me," then "You frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions". The line "I would prefer strangling and death over my life in this body" is the book's plainest statement of a wish to die.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
Consequently he proves next that he is deprived of those remedies which ordinarily console the afflicted. One is sleep, for sorrow is mitigated after sleep. To note this he says, "If I say: 'My bed will comfort me'," in the time of sleep. Another remedy …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
When I say, my bed shall comfort me,....
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.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
When I say, My bed shall comfort me - The idea in this verse and the following is, that there was no intermission to his sorrows. Even the times when people usually sought repose were to him times of distress. Then he was disturbed and alarmed by the most frightful dreams and visions, and sleep fled from him. Shall ease my complaint - The word rendered “shall ease” ישׂא yı̂śâ' means rather, shall bear; that is, shall lighten or sustain. The meaning is, that he sought relief on his bed.
How the passage was read
What the Jewish commentators add
that my couch shall bear my speech The couch upon which I sleep at night will bear my trouble somewhat, and I will be able to restrain my speech.
This section is reception history: how the passage was read and kept in the Jewish tradition. Where a reading parts from an essential of the Christian faith, the section says so at that point.
Texts and citation data: Sefaria; each excerpt follows its version’s licence. 5 further sources are cited on this chapter that carry no English text this site may quote or only restate the verse.
The words behind it
7 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| כִּֽי־ | ki- | if | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| אָ֭מַרְתִּי | ʾamarti | I said | H559 → | 5305 times |
| תְּנַחֲמֵ֣נִי | tenachameni | it will comfort me | H5162 → | 108 times |
| עַרְשִׂ֑י | ʾarsi | couch my | H6210 → | |
| יִשָּׂ֥א | yisa' | it will carry | H5375 → | 656 times |
| בְ֝שִׂיחִ֗י | vesichi | in complaint my | H7879 → | 13 times |
| מִשְׁכָּבִֽי׃ | mishkavi | bed my | H4904 → | 46 times |
כִּֽי־if
ki-H3588 →4482 times
אָ֭מַרְתִּיI said
ʾamartiH559 →5305 times
תְּנַחֲמֵ֣נִיit will comfort me
tenachameniH5162 →108 times
עַרְשִׂ֑יcouch my
ʾarsiH6210 →
יִשָּׂ֥אit will carry
yisa'H5375 →656 times
בְ֝שִׂיחִ֗יin complaint my
vesichiH7879 →13 times
מִשְׁכָּבִֽי׃bed my
mishkaviH4904 →46 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Psalms 6:6I am weary from groaning; all night I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.
it leads to
- Psalms 69:3
I am weary from my crying; my throat is parched. My eyes fail, looking for my God.
- Psalms 42:3
My tears have been my food both day and night, while men ask me all day long, “Where is your God?”
- Psalms 38:9
O Lord, my every desire is before You; my groaning is not hidden from You.
- Psalms 102:3–5
For my days vanish like smoke, and my bones burn like glowing embers.
- Job 16:20
My friends are my scoffers as my eyes pour out tears to God.
- Psalms 69:3
Through
Psalms 77:4You have kept my eyes from closing; I am too troubled to speak.
it leads to
- Job 7:13–15
When I think my bed will comfort me and my couch will ease my complaint,
- Psalms 6:6
I am weary from groaning; all night I flood my bed with weeping and drench my couch with tears.
- Job 2:13
Then they sat on the ground with him for seven days and seven nights, but no one spoke a word to him because they saw how intense his suffering was.
- Job 7:13–15
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Job
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job, Book VIII; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.