God’s Word Translation
Job 7:12
12“Am I the sea or a sea monster that you have set a guard over me?
Job 7:12 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Am I a sea, or a whale, that thou settest a watch over me?
- New International Version (NIV)Am I the sea, or the monster of the deep, that you put me under guard?
- English Standard Version (ESV)Am I the sea, or a sea monster, that you set a guard over me?
- New King James Version (NKJV)Am I a sea, or a sea serpent, That You set a guard over me?
Context of Job 7:12
10He doesn’t come back home again, and his household doesn’t recognize him anymore. 11So I won’t keep my mouth shut, but I will speak from the distress that is in my spirit and complain about the bitterness in my soul. “Am I the sea or a sea monster that you have set a guard over me? 13When I say, ‘My couch may give me comfort. My bed may help me bear my pain,’ 14then you frighten me with dreams and terrify me with visions.
Read all of Job 7Job 7:12 word by word
הֲֽיָם־אָ֭נִי אִם־תַּנִּ֑ין כִּֽי־תָשִׂ֖ים עָלַ֣י מִשְׁמָֽר׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 7:12
- Job 7:17“What is a mortal that you should make so much of him, that you should be concerned about him?
- Job 38:6On what were its footings sunk? Who laid its cornerstone
- Lamentations 3:7He has blocked me so that I can’t get out. He has put heavy chains on me.
- Job 41:1“Can you pull Leviathan out ⌞of the water⌟ with a fishhook or tie its tongue down with a rope?
Commentaries on Job 7:12
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 12Am I a sea, or a whale - "Am I condemned as the Egyptians were who were drowned in the Red Sea? or am I as Pharaoh, who was drowned in it in his sins, that thou settest a keeper over me?" Targum. Am I as dangerous as the sea, that I should be encompassed about with barriers, lest I should hurt mankind? Am I like an ungovernable wild beast or dragon, that I must be put under locks and bars? I think our own version less exceptionable than any other hitherto…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 12Am I a sea? - That is, “am I like a raging and tumultuous sea, that it is necessary to restrain and confine me? The sense of the verse is, that God had treated him as if he were untamable and turbulent, as if he were like the restless ocean, or as if he were some monster, which could be restrained within proper limits only by the stern exercise of power. Dr. Good, following Reiske, renders this, “a savage beast,” understanding by the Hebrew word ים yâm a…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 7-16Verses 7-16 Plain truths as to the shortness and vanity of man's life, and the certainty of death, do us good, when we think and speak of them with application to ourselves. Dying is done but once, and therefore it had need be well done. An error here is past retrieve. Other clouds arise, but the same cloud never returns: so a new generation of men is raised up, but the former generation vanishes away. Glorified saints shall return no more to the cares…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 12The sea (Hebrew yam) and the monster (Hebrew tannin) symbolize chaos opposing God's order of creation. In Canaanite mythology, "Yam" was the original sea god, and "Tannin" was a sea monster or a god of the myth of chaos (Jeremiah 51:34; Psalm 74:13–14). This chaos also appears in Job as "Leviathan" or "Rahab" (Job 3:8; Isaiah 27:1; Job 9:13; 26:12; Isaiah 51:9). The Lord has total control (sovereignty) over the sea and everything it represents (Job 26:12…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1212. Why dost thou deny me the comfort of care-assuaging sleep? Why scarest thou me with frightful dreams? Am I a sea--regarded in Old Testament poetry as a violent rebel against God, the Lord of nature, who therefore curbs his violence (Jr 5:22). or a whale--or some other sea monster (Is 27:1), that Thou needest thus to watch and curb me? The Egyptians watched the crocodile most carefully to prevent its doing mischief.Read the comment
Topics related to Job 7:12
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Job 7
- 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
God’s Word Translation — © 1995 God’s Word to the Nations Bible Society
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