New King James Version
Job 7:2
2Like a servant who earnestly desires the shade, And like a hired man who eagerly looks 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 Living Translation (NLT)like a worker who longs for the shade, like a servant waiting to be paid.
Context of Job 7:2
1“Is there not a time of hard service for man on earth? Are not his days also like the days of a hired man? Like a servant who earnestly desires the shade, And like a hired man who eagerly looks for his wages, 3So I have been allotted months of futility, And wearisome nights have been appointed to me. 4When I lie down, I say, ‘When shall I arise, And the night be ended?’ For I have had my fill of tossing till dawn.
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 opened my mouth and panted, For I longed for Your commandments.
- Psalms 143:6I spread out my hands to You; My soul longs for You like a thirsty land. Selah
- Jeremiah 6:4“Prepare war against her; Arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe to us, for the day goes away, For the shadows of the evening are lengthening.
- Leviticus 19:13‘You shall not cheat your neighbor, nor rob him. The wages of him who is hired shall not remain with you all night until morning.
- Deuteronomy 24:15Each day you shall give him his wages, and not let the sun go down on it, for he is poor and has set his heart on it; lest he cry out against you to the Lord, and it be sin to you.
- Malachi 3:5And I will come near you for judgment; I will be a swift witness Against sorcerers, Against adulterers, Against perjurers, Against those who exploit wage earners and widows and orphans, And against those who turn away an alien— Because they do not fear Me,” Says the Lord of hosts.
- James 5:4Indeed the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out; and the cries of the reapers have reached the ears of the Lord of Sabaoth.
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
New King James Version — © 1982 Thomas Nelson, Inc
Commentaries