Job 7 · Verse 16

Job 7:16

I loathe it; I would not live alway: let me alone; for my days are vanity.
Job 7:16, King James Version

Job 7:16 in other translations

BSBI loathe my life! I would not live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.
WEBI loathe my life. I don’t want to live forever. Leave me alone, for my days are but a breath.
ASVI loathe my life; I would not live alway: Let me alone; for my days are vanity.
YLTI have wasted away--not to the age do I live. Cease from me, for my days are vanity.
DARBYI loathe it; I shall not live always: let me alone, for my days are a breath.
BBEI have no desire for life, I would not be living for ever! Keep away from me, for my days are as a breath.
WebsterI lothe it; I would not live always: let me alone; for my days are vanity.

What does Job 7:16 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
16. Let me alone--that is, cease to afflict me for the few and vain days still left to me.

Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown, 1871 · public domain

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 16 I loathe it; I would not live alway - Life, in such circumstances, is hateful to me; and though I wish for long life, yet if length of days were offered to me with the sufferings which I now undergo, I would despise the offer and spurn the boon. Mr. Good is not satisfied with our common version, and has adopted the following, which in his notes he endeavors to illustrate and defend: Job 7:15 So that my soul coveteth suffocation,And death in comparison with my suffering. Job 7:16 No longer would I live! O, release me!How are my days vanity!

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Job 7:7-16

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…

Read the full comment on Job 7:7-16 →

Job 7:16 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

מָ֭אַסְתִּיMa.'as.tiI rejectH3988
לֹא\־lo'-notH3808
לְעֹלָ֣םle.'o.Lamfor everH5769
אֶֽחְיֶ֑ה'ech.YehI will liveH2421
חֲדַ֥לcha.DalceaseH2308
מִ֝מֶּ֗נִּיmi.Me.nifrom meH4480
כִּי\־ki-forH3588
הֶ֥בֶלHe.vel[are] a breathH1892
יָמָֽי\׃ya.Maidays myH3117

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Job 7:16

  • 1 Kings 19:4

    But he himself went a day’s journey into the wilderness, and came and sat down under a juniper tree: and he requested for himself that he might die; and said, It is enough; now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers.

  • Job 10:1

    My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul.

  • Job 9:21

    Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul: I would despise my life.

  • Job 14:6

    Turn from him, that he may rest, till he shall accomplish, as an hireling, his day.

  • Psalms 62:9

    Surely men of low degree are vanity, and men of high degree are a lie: to be laid in the balance, they are altogether lighter than vanity.

  • Job 10:20

    Are not my days few? cease then, and let me alone, that I may take comfort a little,

  • Job 6:9

    Even that it would please God to destroy me; that he would let loose his hand, and cut me off!

  • Psalms 39:13

    O spare me, that I may recover strength, before I go hence, and be no more.

  • Jonah 4:8

    And it came to pass, when the sun did arise, that God prepared a vehement east wind; and the sun beat upon the head of Jonah, that he fainted, and wished in himself to die, and said, It is better for me to die than to live.

  • Psalms 39:10

    Remove thy stroke away from me: I am consumed by the blow of thine hand.

  • Psalms 144:4

    Man is like to vanity: his days are as a shadow that passeth away.

  • Genesis 27:46

    And Rebekah said to Isaac, I am weary of my life because of the daughters of Heth: if Jacob take a wife of the daughters of Heth, such as these which are of the daughters of the land, what good shall my life do me?

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
I loathe it.
3:20-22; 6:9; 10:1; Ge 27:46; 1Ki 19:4; Jon 4:3,8
let me alone.
10:20; 14:6; Ps 39:10,13
my days.
Ps 62:9; 78:33; 144:4; Ec 6:11,12

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

  • Job 7:15

    So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life.

  • Job 7:16

    I loathe it; I would not live alway: let me alone; for my days are vanity.

  • Job 7:17

    What is man, that thou shouldest magnify him? and that thou shouldest set thine heart upon him?

Read all of Job 7

Job 7:16 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Aburríme: no he de vivir yo para siempre; déjame, pues que mis días son vanidad.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		J’en suis dégoûté; je ne vivrai pas à toujours. Laisse-moi, car mes jours sont vanité.
German
Elberfelder 1871		Ich bins überdrüssig- nicht ewiglich werde ich ja leben: Laß ab von mir! denn ein Hauch sind meine Tage.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Desperavi: nequaquam ultra jam vivam: parce mihi, nihil enim sunt dies mei.