New Living Translation
Job 7:2
2like a worker who longs for the shade, like a servant waiting to be paid.
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“Is not all human life a struggle? Our lives are like that of a hired hand, like a worker who longs for the shade, like a servant waiting to be paid. 3I, too, have been assigned months of futility, long and weary nights of misery. 4Lying in bed, I think, ‘When will it be morning?’ But the night drags on, and I toss 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 pant with expectation, longing for your commands.
- Psalms 143:6I lift my hands to you in prayer. I thirst for you as parched land thirsts for rain. Interlude
- Jeremiah 6:4They shout, ‘Prepare for battle! Attack at noon!’ ‘No, it’s too late; the day is fading, and the evening shadows are falling.’
- Leviticus 19:13“Do not defraud or rob your neighbor. “Do not make your hired workers wait until the next day to receive their pay.
- Deuteronomy 24:15You must pay them their wages each day before sunset because they are poor and are counting on it. If you don’t, they might cry out to the Lord against you, and it would be counted against you as sin.
- Malachi 3:5“At that time I will put you on trial. I am eager to witness against all sorcerers and adulterers and liars. I will speak against those who cheat employees of their wages, who oppress widows and orphans, or who deprive the foreigners living among you of justice, for these people do not fear me,” says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
- James 5:4For listen! Hear the cries of the field workers whom you have cheated of their pay. The cries of those who harvest your fields have reached the ears of the Lord of Heaven’s Armies.
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 Living Translation — © 1996, 2004, 2015 Tyndale House Foundation
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