The Meaning of Job 7:16 Explained

Job 7:16

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

YLT: I have wasted away -- not to the age do I live. Cease from me, for my days are vanity.

Darby: I loathe it; I shall not live always: let me alone, for my days are a breath.

ASV: I loathe my life ; I would not live alway: Let me alone; for my days are vanity.

KJV Reverse Interlinear

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

What does Job 7:16 Mean?

Context Summary

Job 7:1-21 - Longing For The Evening
The servant eagerly longs for the lengthening shadow, which tells him that his day of labor is at an end, and we may allow ourselves to anticipate the hour of our reward and deliverance.
In plaintive words, which have so often been on the lips of heavy sufferers, Job tells the story of his sorrow and bitterness. The sufferer addresses God directly-almost suggesting at first that God was persecuting him without cause. Let those who have been disposed to think God unmindful and hard in His dealings, ponder these words. Even this saint of patience has trodden that path before them, and he came out right at last. But a softer tone follows; Job realizes that he has sinned, pleads to be forgiven, and asks that the word of forgiving love may not tarry, lest it be too late. The psalmist uses expressions similar to Job 7:17-18, but with a more wholesome application, Psalms 8:4; Psalms 144:3.
Notice that wonderful name for God-the watcher of men, Job 7:20, r.v. Not to discover their sins, but to learn their sorrows and needs with the intent of helping them with His saving strength. [source]

Chapter Summary: Job 7

1  Job excuses his desire of death
12  He complains of his own restlessness, and reasons with God

What do the individual words in Job 7:16 mean?

I loathe [my life] not forever I would live let alone me for [but] a breath my days [are]
מָ֭אַסְתִּי לֹא־ לְעֹלָ֣ם אֶֽחְיֶ֑ה חֲדַ֥ל מִ֝מֶּ֗נִּי כִּי־ הֶ֥בֶל יָמָֽי

מָ֭אַסְתִּי  I  loathe  [my  life] 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Perfect, first person common singular
Root: מָאַס 
Sense: to reject, despise, refuse.
לְעֹלָ֣ם  forever 
Parse: Preposition-l, Noun, masculine singular
Root: עֹולָם  
Sense: long duration, antiquity, futurity, for ever, ever, everlasting, evermore, perpetual, old, ancient, world.
אֶֽחְיֶ֑ה  I  would  live 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperfect, first person common singular
Root: חָיָה  
Sense: to live, have life, remain alive, sustain life, live prosperously, live for ever, be quickened, be alive, be restored to life or health.
חֲדַ֥ל  let  alone 
Parse: Verb, Qal, Imperative, masculine singular
Root: חָדַל 
Sense: to stop, cease, desist, forego, cease to be, leave undone, forbear.
מִ֝מֶּ֗נִּי  me 
Parse: Preposition, first person common singular
Root: מִן 
Sense: from, out of, on account of, off, on the side of, since, above, than, so that not, more than.
הֶ֥בֶל  [but]  a  breath 
Parse: Noun, masculine singular
Root: הֶבֶל  
Sense: vapour, breath.
יָמָֽי  my  days  [are] 
Parse: Noun, masculine plural construct, first person common singular
Root: יׄום 
Sense: day, time, year.