Amplified Bible
Job 8:9
9For we are only of yesterday and know nothing, Because our days on earth are [like] a shadow [just a breath or a vapor].
Job 8:9 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)(For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing, because our days upon earth are a shadow:)
- New International Version (NIV)for we were born only yesterday and know nothing, and our days on earth are but a shadow.
- English Standard Version (ESV)For we are but of yesterday and know nothing, for our days on earth are a shadow.
- New King James Version (NKJV)For we were born yesterday, and know nothing, Because our days on earth are a shadow.
Context of Job 8:9
7Though your beginning was insignificant, Yet your end will greatly increase. 8“Inquire, please, of past generations, And consider and apply yourself to the things searched out by their fathers. For we are only of yesterday and know nothing, Because our days on earth are [like] a shadow [just a breath or a vapor]. 10Will they (the fathers) not teach you and tell you, And utter words from their hearts [the deepest part of their nature]? 11“Can the papyrus grow up without a marsh? Can the rushes or reed grass grow without water?
Read all of Job 8Job 8:9 word by word
כִּֽי־תְמ֣וֹל אֲ֭נַחְנוּ וְלֹ֣א נֵדָ֑ע כִּ֤י צֵ֖ל יָמֵ֣ינוּ עֲלֵי־אָֽרֶץ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 8:9
- Job 7:6My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, And are spent without hope.
- Genesis 47:9Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. Few and unpleasant have been the years of my life, and they have not reached the years that my fathers lived during the days of their pilgrimage.”
- 1 Chronicles 29:15For we are sojourners before You, and tenants, as all our fathers were; our days on the earth are like a shadow, and there is no hope [of remaining].
- Psalms 39:5Behold, You have made my days as [short as] hand widths, And my lifetime is as nothing in Your sight. Surely every man at his best is a mere breath [a wisp of smoke, a vapor that vanishes]! Selah.
- Psalms 90:4For a thousand years in Your sight Are like yesterday when it is past, Or as a watch in the night.
- Psalms 102:11My days are like an evening shadow that lengthens and vanishes [with the sun]; And as for me, I wither away like grass.
- Psalms 144:4Man is like a mere breath; His days are like a shadow that passes away.
Commentaries on Job 8:9
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 9For we are but of yesterday, and know nothing - It is evident that Bildad refers to those times in which human life was protracted to a much longer date than that in which Job lived; when men, from the long period of eight or nine hundred years, had the opportunity of making many observations, and treasuring up a vast fund of knowledge and experience. In comparison with them, he considers that age as nothing, and that generation as being only of…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 9For we are but of yesterday - That is, we are of short life. We have had but few opportunities of observation compared with those who have gone before us. There can be no doubt that Bildad here refers to the longevity of the antecedent ages compared with the age of man at the time when he lived; and the passage, therefore, is of importance in order to fix the date of the poem. It shows that human life had been reduced in the time of Job within…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 8-19Verses 8-19 Bildad discourses well of hypocrites and evil-doers, and the fatal end of all their hopes and joys. He proves this truth of the destruction of the hopes and joys of hypocrites, by an appeal to former times. Bildad refers to the testimony of the ancients. Those teach best that utter words out of their heart, that speak from an experience of spiritual and divine things. A rush growing in fenny ground, looking very green, but withering in dry…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 9born yesterday and know nothing: Bildad suggested that Job's generation was either born too late to know ancient wisdom or too young to have gathered it.Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 8-98-9. The sages of the olden time reached an age beyond those of Job's time (see on Job 42:16), and therefore could give the testimony of a fuller experience.Read the comment
Topics related to Job 8:9
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 8
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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