Job 9 · Verse 25

Job 9:25

Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good.
Job 9:25, King James Version

Job 9:25 in other translations

BSBMy days are swifter than a runner; they flee without seeing good.
WEB“Now my days are swifter than a runner. They flee away. They see no good.
ASVNow my days are swifter than a post: They flee away, they see no good.
YLTMy days have been swifter than a runner, They have fled, they have not seen good,
DARBYAnd my days are swifter than a runner: they flee away, they see no good.
BBEMy days go quicker than a post-runner: they go in flight, they see no good.
WebsterNow my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good.

What does Job 9:25 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown
25. a post--a courier. In the wide Persian empire such couriers, on dromedaries or on foot, were employed to carry the royal commands to the distant provinces (Es 3:13, 15; 8:14). "My days" are not like the slow caravan, but the fleet post. The "days" are themselves poetically said to "see no good," instead of Job in them (1Pe 3:10).

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

Adam Clarke's Commentary
Verse 25 Swifter than a post - מני רץ minni rats, than a runner. The light-footed messenger or courier who carries messages from place to place. They flee away - The Chaldee says, My days are swifter than the shadow of a flying bird. So swiftly do they flee away that I cannot discern them; and when past they cannot be recalled. There is a sentiment like this in Virgil, Geor. lib. iii., ver. 284: - Sed Fugit interea, Cubit Irreparabile tempus! - "But in the meanwhile time flies! irreparable time flies away!"

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Job 9:25-35
What little need have we of pastimes, and what great need to redeem time, when it runs on so fast towards eternity! How vain the enjoyments of time, which we may quite lose while yet time continues! The remembrance of having done our duty will be pleasing afterwards; so will not the remembrance of having got worldly wealth, when it is all lost and gone. Job's complaint of God, as one that could not be appeased and would not relent, was the language of his corruption. There is a Mediator, a Daysman, or Umpire, for us, even God's own beloved Son, who has purchased peace for us with the blood of his cross, who is able to save to the uttermost all who come unto God through him. If we trust in his name, our sins will be buried in the depths of the sea, we shall be washed from all our filthiness, and made whiter than snow, so that none can lay any thing to our charge. We shall be clothed with the robes of righteousness and salvation, adorned with the graces of the Holy Spirit, and presented faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy. May we learn the difference between justifying ourselves, and being thus justified by God himself. Let the tempest-tossed soul consider Job, and notice that others have passed this dreadful gulf; and though they found it hard to believe that God would hear or deliver them, yet he rebuked the storm, and brought them to the desired haven. Resist the devil; give not place to hard thoughts of God, or desperate conclusions about thyself. Come to Him who invites the weary and heavy laden; who promises in nowise to cast them out.

Matthew Henry, 1706 · public domain

Job 9:25 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.

וְיָמַ֣יve.ya.Maiand days myH3117
קַ֭לּוּKa.luthey have been swiftH7043
מִנִּי\־mi.ni-more thanH4480
רָ֑ץRatza runnerH7323
בָּֽ֝רְח֗וּba.re.Chuthey have fledH1272
לֹא\־lo'-notH3808
רָא֥וּra.'Uthey have seenH7200
טוֹבָֽה\׃to.VahgoodH2896

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

Cross references for Job 9:25

  • Job 7:6-7

    My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope. O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall no more see good.

  • James 4:14

    Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.

  • Psalms 90:9-10

    For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told. The days of our years are threescore years and ten; and if by reason of strength they be fourscore years, yet is their strength labour and sorrow; for it is soon cut off, and we fly away.

  • Psalms 39:5

    Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.

  • Esther 8:14

    So the posts that rode upon mules and camels went out, being hastened and pressed on by the king’s commandment. And the decree was given at Shushan the palace.

  • Psalms 89:47

    Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?

  • Psalms 39:11

    When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah.

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

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
swifter.
7:6,7; Es 8:14
a post.{Rotz,} a runner, or courier; some of whom are said to go 150 miles in less than 24 hours.
they flee away.
Ps 39:5,11; 89:47; 90:9,10; Jas 4:14

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

Context

  • Job 9:24

    The earth is given into the hand of the wicked: he covereth the faces of the judges thereof; if not, where, and who is he?

  • Job 9:25

    Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good.

  • Job 9:26

    They are passed away as the swift ships: as the eagle that hasteth to the prey.

Read all of Job 9

Job 9:25 in other languages

Spanish
Reina-Valera 1909		Mis días han sido más ligeros que un correo; huyeron, y no vieron el bien.
French
Bible J.N. Darby 1885		Mes jours s’en vont plus vite qu’un coureur; ils fuient, ils ne voient pas ce qui est bon;
German
Elberfelder 1871		Und meine Tage eilen schneller dahin als ein Läufer, sie entfliehen, schauen das Glück nicht.
Latin
Clementine Vulgate		Dies mei velociores fuerunt cursore; fugerunt, et non viderunt bonum.