Is there not an appointed time to man upon earth? are not his days also like the days of an hireling?
Parallel translations
- WEB “Isn’t a man forced to labor on earth? Aren’t his days like the days of a hired hand?
- BSB “Is not man consigned to labor on earth? Are not his days like those of a hired hand?
- NKJV “Is there not a time of hard service for man on earth? Are not his days also like the days of a hired man?
- NASB “Is a person not forced to labor on earth, And are his days not like the days of a hired worker?
- NLT “Is not all human life a struggle? Our lives are like that of a hired hand,
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 asks whether man's life on earth is not hard service, his days like those of a hired laborer. He frames human existence as toilsome and burdensome.
Overview
Opening a fresh lament, Job compares human life to forced military service or the wearying days of a hired hand, full of hardship and longing for the day's end. He voices the universal experience of toil under the fall, where life is labor and rest seems far off. This honest cry anticipates the gospel rest offered by Christ, who invites the weary and heavy-laden to come to him and find rest for their souls.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 12
- Job 14:5–6Seeing his days are determined, the number of his months are with thee, thou hast appointed his bounds that he cannot pass;
- Ps 39:4LORD, make me to know mine end, and the measure of my days, what it is: that I may know how frail I am.
- Job 5:7Yet man is born unto trouble, as the sparks fly upward.
- Job 14:13–14O that thou wouldest hide me in the grave, that thou wouldest keep me secret, until thy wrath be past, that thou wouldest appoint me a set time, and remember me!
- Lev 25:50And he shall reckon with him that bought him from the year that he was sold to him unto the year of jubile: and the price of his sale shall be according unto the number of years, according to the time of an hired servant shall it be with him.
- Isa 40:2Speak ye comfortably to Jerusalem, and cry unto her, that her warfare is accomplished, that her iniquity is pardoned: for she hath received of the LORD’s hand double for all her sins.
- Deut 15:18It shall not seem hard unto thee, when thou sendest him away free from thee; for he hath been worth a double hired servant to thee, in serving thee six years: and the LORD thy God shall bless thee in all that thou doest.
- Eccl 8:8There is no man that hath power over the spirit to retain the spirit; neither hath he power in the day of death: and there is no discharge in that war; neither shall wickedness deliver those that are given to it.
- Matt 20:1–15For the kingdom of heaven is like unto a man that is an householder, which went out early in the morning to hire labourers into his vineyard.
- John 11:9–10Jesus answered, Are there not twelve hours in the day? If any man walk in the day, he stumbleth not, because he seeth the light of this world.
- Isa 38:5Go, and say to Hezekiah, Thus saith the LORD, the God of David thy father, I have heard thy prayer, I have seen thy tears: behold, I will add unto thy days fifteen years.
- Isa 21:16For thus hath the LORD said unto me, Within a year, according to the years of an hireling, and all the glory of Kedar shall fail:
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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 7:1 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.