Job 7:8
in Job 7The eye that beholds me will no longer see me. You will look for me, but I will be no more.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
The eye of him that seeth me shall behold me no more; Thine eyes shall be upon me, but I shall not be.
KJV
The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more: thine eyes are upon me, and I am not.
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This verse in Job 7
Commentary
10 notes on this verseThe eye of man shall not see me. For 'the eye of Man' is the pity of the Redeemer, which softens the hardness of our insensibility, when it looks upon us. Hence, as the Gospel witnesses, it is said, And the Lord turned, and looked upon Peter. And Peter remembered the word of the Lord. And he went out, and wept bitterly. But the soul when divested of the flesh 'the eye of Man' doth not henceforth at all regard, in that it never delivers him after death, whom grace doth not restore to pardon before death.
This site's exposition
Remember that my life is but a breath
on Job 7:7-10
Job says his eyes "will never again see happiness". He speaks within the Old Testament's ordinary hope of Sheol, and the later reach of 19:25-26 stands out against it. "He never returns to his house" states the plain fact of mortality without yet claiming anything beyond it.
This site's exposition
The eye that beholds me will no longer see me
The eye that beholds him will look and he will be no more. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown read it closely: he vanishes even while the watcher of mankind looks at him. Clarke adds that death leaves no chance to clear his name.
The record, by era
The Medieval Church1 voice
In the same way that when my life has passed I will return to see earthly goods, so I will not be seen by any eyes on earth. So he goes on, "Nor will the eye of man look on me." He posits these two …
The Puritans and the Awakening3 voices
(4.) That, when we are once removed to another world, we must never return to this. There is constant passing from this world to the other, but vestigia nulla retrorsum--there is no repassing. "Therefore, Lord, kindly ease me by death, for that will be a perpetual ease.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — odd-straight-quotes
The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more,....
Death removes our lovers and friends into darkness ( Ps. lxxxviii. 18 ), and will shortly remove us out of their sight; when we go hence we shall be seen no more ( Ps. xxxix. 13 ), but go to converse with the things that are not seen, that are eternal.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown1802–1910
Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)
The eye of him who beholds me (present, not past), that is, in the very act of beholding me, seeth me no more. Thine eyes are upon me, and I am not--He disappears, even while God is looking upon him.
2 more voices on this verse
The Nineteenth Century2 voices
Shall see me no more - If I die in my present state, with all this load of undeserved odium which is cast upon me by my friends, I shall never have an opportunity of vindicating my character, and regaining the good opinion of mankind. Thine eyes are upon one, and I am not - Thou canst look me into nothing. Or, Let thine eye be upon me as judged to death, and I shall immediately cease to live among men.
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
The eye of him that hath seen me shall see me no more - I shall be cut off from all my friends - one of the things which most distresses people when they come to die. Thine eyes are upon me, and I am not - see Job 7:21. Dr. Good renders this, “let thine eye be upon me, and I am nothing.” Herder, “thine eye will seek me, but I am no more.” According to this the sense is, that he was soon to be removed from the place where he had dwelt, and that should he be sought there he could not be found. He would seem to represent God as looking for him, and not finding him; see Job 7:21. The margin has,” I can live no longer.” It may be possible that this is the meaning, that God had fixed an intense gaze upon him, and that he could not survive it. If this is the sense, then it accords with the descriptions given of the majesty of God everywhere in the Scriptures - that nothing could endure His presence, that even the earth trembles, and the mountains melt away, at his touch. Thus, in Psa 104:32: He looketh on the earth, and it trembleth; He toucheth the hills, and they smoke. Compare the representation of the power of the eye in Job 16:9: He teareth me in his wrath who hateth me; He gnasheth upon me with his teeth Mine enemy sharpeneth his eyes upon me. On the whole, I think it probable that this is the sense here. There is an energy in the original which is greatly enfeebled in the common translation. God had fixed his eyes upon Job, and he at once disappeared; compare Rev 20:11: “And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat upon it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away, and there was found no place for them.”
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 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| לֹֽא־ | lo'- | not | H3808 → | 5168 times |
| תְ֭שׁוּרֵנִי | teshureni | it will observe me | H7789 → | 15 times |
| עֵ֣ין | ʾein | an eye of | H5869 → | 887 times |
| רֹ֑אִי | roi | sight | H7210 → | |
| עֵינֶ֖יךָ | ʾeineikha | eyes your | H5869 → | 887 times |
| בִּ֣י | bi | [will be] on me | ||
| וְאֵינֶֽנִּי׃ | veeineni | and there not [will be] me | H369 → | 789 times |
לֹֽא־not
lo'-H3808 →5168 times
תְ֭שׁוּרֵנִיit will observe me
teshureniH7789 →15 times
עֵ֣יןan eye of
ʾeinH5869 →887 times
רֹ֑אִיsight
roiH7210 →
עֵינֶ֖יךָeyes your
ʾeineikhaH5869 →887 times
בִּ֣י[will be] on me
bi
וְאֵינֶֽנִּי׃and there not [will be] me
veeineniH369 →789 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 37:36yet he passed away and was no more; though I searched, he could not be found.
it leads to
- Psalms 37:10
Yet a little while, and the wicked will be no more; though you look for them, they will not be found.
Reached by 3 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 37:10
Through
Job 20:9The eye that saw him will see him no more, and his place will no longer behold him.
it leads to
- Job 7:10
He never returns to his house; his place remembers him no more.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Psalms 37:36
yet he passed away and was no more; though I searched, he could not be found.
Reached by 2 separate paths from here.
- Job 7:10
Through
Psalms 39:11You discipline and correct a man for his iniquity, consuming like a moth what he holds dear; surely each man is but a vapor. Selah
it leads to
- Job 13:28
So man wastes away like something rotten, like a moth-eaten garment.
- Hebrews 12:6
For the Lord disciplines the one He loves, and He chastises every son He receives.”
- Isaiah 50:9
Surely the Lord GOD helps Me. Who is there to condemn Me? See, they will all wear out like a garment; the moths will devour them.
- Job 13:28
Through
Job 14:3Do You open Your eyes to one like this? Will You bring him into judgment before You?
it leads to
- Psalms 144:3
O LORD, what is man, that You regard him, the son of man that You think of him?
- Psalms 143:2
Do not bring Your servant into judgment, for no one alive is righteous before You.
- Psalms 144:3
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; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; 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.