My eyes have grown dim with grief, and my whole body is but a shadow.
Parallel translations
- WEB My eye also is dim by reason of sorrow. All my members are as a shadow.
- KJV Mine eye also is dim by reason of sorrow, and all my members are as a shadow.
- NKJV My eye has also grown dim because of sorrow, And all my members are like shadows.
- NASB “My eye has also become inexpressive because of grief, And all my body parts are like a shadow.
- NLT My eyes are swollen with weeping, and I am but a shadow of my former self.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Job's eyes are dim with grief and his whole frame is wasted to a shadow. Sorrow has consumed his body.
Overview
Job describes his sight failing from continual sorrow and his limbs reduced to mere shadows. The picture is of a man hollowed out by prolonged suffering. Such depictions of grief's toll are honest before God, who does not despise the weak and wasted but draws near to the brokenhearted (Psalm 34:18).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Job 16:16My face is red with weeping, and deep shadows ring my eyes;
- Ps 6:7My eyes fail from grief; they grow dim because of all my foes.
- Ps 31:9–10Be merciful to me, O LORD, for I am in distress; my eyes fail from sorrow, my soul and body as well.
- Eccl 6:12For who knows what is good for a man during the few days in which he passes through his fleeting life like a shadow? Who can tell a man what will come after him under the sun?
- Job 16:8You have bound me, and it has become a witness; my frailty rises up and testifies against me.
- Ps 109:23I am fading away like a lengthening shadow; I am shaken off like a locust.
- Lam 5:17Because of this, our hearts are faint; because of these, our eyes grow dim—
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
Job's cry for a mediator who can lay his hand on both God and man, and his confidence that 'my Redeemer lives' and will stand on the earth, reaches forward to Jesus the living Redeemer.
How Job 17:7 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.