Job 7:6
in Job 7My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle; they come to an end without hope.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, And are spent without hope.
KJV
My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.
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This verse in Job 7
Commentary
9 notes on this verseMy days are past more swiftly than a web is cut off by the weaver. By a very suitable image the time of the flesh is compared to a web. For as the web advances by threads, so this mortal life by the several days; but in proportion as it grows to its bigness, it is advancing to its cutting off. For as we have also said above, whilst the time in our hands passes, the time before us is shortened.
This site's exposition
When I lie down I think
on Job 7:4-6
The night that should end labor only starts a new one for Job: "the night drags on, and I toss and turn until dawn". His days are "swifter than a weaver’s shuttle" and "come to an end without hope," so speed itself becomes grief, a shorter sentence.
This site's exposition
My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle
Clarke notes that the Hebrew names the weaver more than his shuttle. Gregory reads the days as threads added to a web, each one bringing its end nearer. The days come to an end without hope.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
The second is because the greater part of his life was already past and therefore very little time remained so he could not hope for a great deal of happiness during that time. Because of this he says, "My days have passed swifter than warp …
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
If we are weaving to ourselves holy garments and robes of righteousness, we shall have the benefit of them when our work comes to be reviewed and every man shall reap as he sowed and wear as he wove. 7 O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall no more see good. 8 The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more: thine eyes are upon me, and I am not.
quarantine:scripture (2026-07-29) — verbatim-run:36w-of-75
My days are swifter than a weaver's shuttle,....
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Swifter than a weaver’s shuttle - The word ארג areg signifies rather the weaver than his shuttle. And it has been doubted whether any such instrument were in use in the days of Job. Dr. Russell, in his account of Aleppo, shows that though they wove many kinds of curious cloth, yet no shuttle was used, as they conducted every thread of the woof by their fingers.
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
proposed
Every day like the weaver's shuttle leaves a thread behind; and each shall wear, as he weaves. But Job's thought is that his days must swiftly be cut off as a web; without hope--namely, of a recovery and renewal of life (Job 14:19;
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
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
My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle - That is, they are short and few. He does not here refer so much to the rapidity with which they were passing away as to the fact that they would soon be gone, and that he was likely to be cut off without being permitted to enjoy the blessings of a long life; compare the notes at Isa 38:12. The weaver’s shuttle is the instrument by which the weaver inserts the filling in the woof. With us few things would furnish a more striking emblem of rapidity than the speed with which a weaver throws his shuttle from one side of the web to the other. It would seem that such was the fact among the ancients, though the precise manner in which they wove their cloth, is unknown. It was common to compare life with a web, which was filled up by the successive days. The ancient Classical writers spoke of it as a web woven by the Fates. We can all feel the force of the comparison used here by Job, that the days which we live fly swift away. How rapidly is one after another added to the web of life! How soon will the whole web be filled up, and life be closed! A few more shoots of the shuttle and all will be over, and our life will be cut off, as the weaver removes one web from the loom to make way for another. How important to improve the fleeting moments, and to live as if we were soon to see the rapid shuttle flying for the last time! And are spent without hope - Without hope of recovery, or of future happiness on earth. It does not mean that he had no hope of happiness in the world to come. But such were his trials here, and so entirely had his comforts been removed, that he had no prospect of again enjoying life.
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| יָמַ֣י | yamai | days my | H3117 → | 2304 times |
| קַ֭לּוּ | kalu | they have been swift | H7043 → | 82 times |
| מִנִּי־ | mini- | more than | H4480 → | 1188 times |
| אָ֑רֶג | ʾareg | a weaver's shuttle | H708 → | |
| וַ֝יִּכְל֗וּ | vaiyikhlu | and they have come to an end | H3615 → | 208 times |
| בְּאֶ֣פֶס | beefes | with not | H657 → | |
| תִּקְוָֽה׃ | tikvah | hope | H8615 → | 34 times |
יָמַ֣יdays my
yamaiH3117 →2304 times
קַ֭לּוּthey have been swift
kaluH7043 →82 times
מִנִּי־more than
mini-H4480 →1188 times
אָ֑רֶגa weaver's shuttle
ʾaregH708 →
וַ֝יִּכְל֗וּand they have come to an end
vaiyikhluH3615 →208 times
בְּאֶ֣פֶסwith not
beefesH657 →
תִּקְוָֽה׃hope
tikvahH8615 →34 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 Peter 1:24For, “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field; the grass withers and the flowers fall,
it leads to
- Isaiah 40:6–8
A voice says, “Cry out!” And I asked, “What should I cry out?” “All flesh is like grass, and all its glory like the flowers of the field.
- James 4:14
You do not even know what will happen tomorrow! What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 103:15
As for man, his days are like grass— he blooms like a flower of the field;
- James 1:10–11
But the one who is rich should exult in his low position, because he will pass away like a flower of the field.
- Psalms 37:2
For they wither quickly like grass and wilt like tender plants.
- Isaiah 40:6–8
Through
Psalms 144:4Man is like a breath; his days are like a passing shadow.
it leads to
- Psalms 102:11
My days are like lengthening shadows, and I wither away like grass.
- Psalms 109:23
I am fading away like a lengthening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust.
- Job 8:9
For we were born yesterday and know nothing; our days on earth are but a shadow.
- Psalms 102:11
Where this verse is studied
On this page
About Job
This page draws on 9 works. Open the list of works
This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Book of Job; 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; Gregory the Dialogist, Morals on the Book of Job; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible and Thomas Aquinas, Commentary on Job.