Job 7:16
in Job 7I loathe my life! I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
I loathe my life; I would not live alway: Let me alone; for my days are vanity.
KJV
I loathe it; I would not live alway: let me alone; for my days are vanity.
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This verse in Job 7
Commentary
9 notes on this verseI loathe it; I would not live alway - Life, in such circumstances, is hateful to me; and though I wish for long life, yet if length of days were offered to me with the sufferings which I now undergo, I would despise the offer and spurn the boon. Mr. Good is not satisfied with our common version, and has adopted the following, which in his notes he endeavors to illustrate and defend: Job 7:15 So that my soul coveteth suffocation, And death in comparison with my suffering. Job 7:16 No longer would I live! O, release me!
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.
This site's exposition
I loathe my life
Clarke reads I loathe my life as a refusal to live forever on these terms. Days offered with such misery are a gift worth refusing. Breath is hebel, the vapor Ecclesiastes finds in everything under the sun.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers1 voice
"I beg of you. Take away my life. Deliver me from my pains through death. In fact, you did not create me immortal. So … may [I] enjoy quiet and tranquility in the future. I do not demand, O Lord, anything contrary to your decree. …
The Medieval Church2 voices
A commentator
Gregory the DialogistMorals on the Book of Job, Book VIII · Written before 604.
proposed
I have given over hope, I will not live any longer. There be some of the righteous, who so entertain the desire of heavenly things, that, notwithstanding this, they are not broken off from the hope of things earthly. The inheritance bestowed on them by God they keep for the supply of necessities, the honours awarded them on a temporal footing they retain; they do not covet the things of others, they make a lawful use of their own.
He shows why he chooses this saying, "I have despaired," i.e. I have lost the hope which you gave me that I might enjoy earthly prosperity. He shows why he despaired adding, "I will not live longer to any purpose." Two things can be understood …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
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.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
I loathe it,....
1 more voice on this verse
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
I loathe it - I loathe my life as it is now. It has become a burden and I desire to part with it, and to go down to the grave. There is, however, considerable variety in the interpretation of this. Noyes renders it, “I am wasting away.” Dr. Good connects it with the previous verse and understands by it, “death in comparison with my sufferings do I despise.” The Syriac is, - it fails to me, that is, I fail, or my powers are wasting away. But the Hebrew word מאס mâ'as means properly to loathe and contemn (see the note at Job 7:5), and the true idea here is expressed in the common version. The sense is, “my life is painful and offensive, and I wish to die.” I would not live alway - As Job used this expression, there was doubtless somewhat of impatience and of an improper spirit. Still it contains a very important sentiment, and one that may be expressed in the highest state of just religious feeling. A man who is prepared for heaven should not and will not desire to live here always. It is better to depart and to be with Christ, better to leave a world of imperfection and sin, and to go to a world of purity and love. On this text, fully and beautifully illustrating its meaning, the reader may consult a sermon by Dr. Dwight. Sermons, Edinburgh, 1828, vol. ii. 275ff. This world is full of temptations and of sin; it is a world where suffering abounds; it is the infancy of our being; it is a place where our knowledge is imperfect, and where the affections of the best are comparatively grovelling; it is a world where the good are often persecuted, and where the bad are triumphant; and it is better to go to abodes where all these will be unknown. Heaven is a more desirable place in which to dwell than the earth; and if we had a clear view of that world, and proper desires, we should pant to depart and to be there. […]
The words behind it
9 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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| מָ֭אַסְתִּי | maasti | I reject | H3988 → | 76 times |
| לֹא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| לְעֹלָ֣ם | leolam | for ever | H5769 → | 438 times |
| אֶֽחְיֶ֑ה | ʾechyeh | I will live | H2421 → | 282 times |
| חֲדַ֥ל | chadal | cease | H2308 → | 58 times |
| מִ֝מֶּ֗נִּי | mimeni | from me | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| כִּי־ | ki- | for | H3588 → | 4482 times |
| הֶ֥בֶל | hevel | [are] a breath | H1892 → | 73 times |
| יָמָֽי׃ | yamai | days my | H3117 → | 2304 times |
מָ֭אַסְתִּיI reject
maastiH3988 →76 times
לֹא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
לְעֹלָ֣םfor ever
leolamH5769 →438 times
אֶֽחְיֶ֑הI will live
ʾechyehH2421 →282 times
חֲדַ֥לcease
chadalH2308 →58 times
מִ֝מֶּ֗נִּיfrom me
mimeniH4480 →1188 times
כִּי־for
ki-H3588 →4482 times
הֶ֥בֶל[are] a breath
hevelH1892 →73 times
יָמָֽי׃days my
yamaiH3117 →2304 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
1 Kings 19:4while he himself traveled on a day’s journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life,…
it leads to
- Jonah 4:3
And now, O LORD, please take my life from me, for it is better for me to die than to live.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jonah 4:8
As the sun was rising, God appointed a scorching east wind, and the sun beat down on Jonah’s head so that he grew faint and wished to die, saying, “It is better for me…
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Numbers 11:15
If this is how You are going to treat me, please kill me right now—if I have found favor in Your eyes—and let me not see my own wretchedness.”
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Jonah 4:3
Through
Job 6:9that God would be willing to crush me, to unleash His hand and cut me off!
it leads to
- 1 Kings 19:4
while he himself traveled on a day’s journey into the wilderness. He sat down under a broom tree and prayed that he might die. “I have had enough, LORD,” he said. “Take my life,…
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- 1 Kings 19:4
Through
Job 10:1“I loathe my own life; I will express my complaint and speak in the bitterness of my soul.
it leads to
- Job 7:11
Therefore I will not restrain my mouth; I will speak in the anguish of my spirit; I will complain in the bitterness of my soul.
- Job 7:11
Through
Job 14:6look away from him and let him rest, so he can enjoy his day as a hired hand.
it leads to
- Job 7:19
Will You never look away from me, or leave me alone to swallow my spittle?
- Psalms 39:13
Turn Your gaze away from me, that I may again be cheered before I depart and am no more.”
- Job 7:1–2
“Is not man consigned to labor on earth? Are not his days like those of a hired hand?
- Job 7:19
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; Olympiodorus of Alexandria, COMMENTARY ON JOB 7:15 and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.