New English Translation
Job 7:2
2Like a servant longing for the evening shadow, and like a hired man looking for his wages,
Job 7:2 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work:
- New International Version (NIV)Like a slave longing for the evening shadows, or a hired laborer waiting to be paid,
- English Standard Version (ESV)Like a slave who longs for the shadow, and like a hired hand who looks for his wages,
- New King James Version (NKJV)Like a servant who earnestly desires the shade, And like a hired man who eagerly looks for his wages,
Context of Job 7:2
1“Does not humanity have hard service on earth? Are not their days also like the days of a hired man? Like a servant longing for the evening shadow, and like a hired man looking for his wages, 3thus I have been made to inherit months of futility, and nights of sorrow have been appointed to me. 4If I lie down, I say, ‘When will I arise?’, and the night stretches on and I toss and turn restlessly until the day dawns.
Read all of Job 7Job 7:2 word by word
כְּעֶ֥בֶד יִשְׁאַף־צֵ֑ל וּ֝כְשָׂכִ֗יר יְקַוֶּ֥ה פָעֳלֽוֹ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Job 7:2
- Psalms 119:131I open my mouth and pant, because I long for your commands.
- Psalms 143:6I spread my hands out to you in prayer; my soul thirsts for you in a parched land.
- Jeremiah 6:4They will say, ‘Prepare to do battle against it! Come on! Let’s attack it at noon!’ But later they will say, ‘Oh, oh! Too bad! The day is almost over and the shadows of evening are getting long.
- Leviticus 19:13You must not oppress your neighbor or commit robbery against him. You must not withhold the wages of the hired laborer overnight until morning.
- Deuteronomy 24:15You must pay his wage that very day before the sun sets, for he is poor and his life depends on it. Otherwise he will cry out to the Lord against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
- Malachi 3:5“I will come to you in judgment. I will be quick to testify against those who practice divination, those who commit adultery, those who break promises, and those who exploit workers, widows, and orphans, who refuse to help the immigrant and in this way show they do not fear me,” says the Lord who rules over all.
- James 5:4Look, the pay you have held back from the workers who mowed your fields cries out against you, and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of hosts.
Commentaries on Job 7:2
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 2Earnestly desireth the shadow - As a man who labors hard in the heat of the day earnestly desires to get under a shade, or wishes for the long evening shadows, that he may rest from his labor, get his day's wages, retire to his food, and then go to rest. Night is probably what is meant by the shadow; as in Virgil, Aen. iv., ver. 7: Humentemque Aurora polo dimoverat Umbram. "The morning had removed the humid shadow, i.e., night, from the world." Where…Read the comment
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible · v. 2As a servant earnestly desireth - Margin, gapeth after. The word here שׁאף shâ'aph means to breathe hard, to pant, to blow, and then to desire earnestly. The shadow - This may refer either to a shade in the intense heat of the day, or to the night. Nothing is more grateful in oriental countries, when the sun pours down intensely on burning sands, than the shadow of a tree, or the shade of a projecting rock. The editor of the Pictorial Bible on this verse…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 2Employers had the obligation to pay workers at the end of each day (Leviticus 19:13; Deuteronomy 24:15). But this did not always happen (Jeremiah 22:13; Malachi 3:5; James 5:4).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 22. earnestly desireth--Hebrew, "pants for the [evening] shadow." Easterners measure time by the length of their shadow. If the servant longs for the evening when his wages are paid, why may not Job long for the close of his hard service, when he shall enter on his "reward?" This proves that Job did not, as many maintain, regard the grave as a mere sleep. 3.--Months of comfortless misfortune. I am made to possess--literally, "to be heir to." Irony. "To be…Read the comment
Topics related to Job 7:2
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
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