Like a slave he longs for shade; like a hireling he waits for his wages.
Parallel translations
- WEB As a servant who earnestly desires the shadow, as a hireling who looks for his wages,
- KJV As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work:
- NKJV Like a servant who earnestly desires the shade, And like a hired man who eagerly looks for his wages,
- NASB “As a slave pants for the shade, And as a hired worker who eagerly waits for his wages,
- NLT like a worker who longs for the shade, like a servant waiting to be paid.
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 compares himself to a weary servant longing for the relief of evening shade and a laborer waiting for his pay. It captures the human ache for rest and reward amid relentless toil.
Overview
In his reply to Eliphaz, Job uses everyday images of hard labor to describe his exhausting suffering. Like a slave craving the cool of dusk or a hired hand awaiting his wage, Job longs for release from his pain. The picture exposes how oppressive his affliction has become and prepares for the complaint that follows.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Lev 19:13You must not defraud your neighbor or rob him. You must not withhold until morning the wages due a hired hand.
- Deut 24:15You are to pay his wages each day before sunset, because he is poor and depends on them. Otherwise he may cry out to the LORD against you, and you will be guilty of sin.
- Mal 3:5“Then I will draw near to you for judgment. And I will be a swift witness against sorcerers and adulterers and perjurers, against oppressors of the widowed and fatherless, and against those who defraud laborers of their wages and deny justice to the foreigner but do not fear Me,” says the LORD of Hosts.
- Jas 5:4Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.
- Jer 6:4‘Prepare for battle against her; rise up, let us attack at noon. Woe to us, for the daylight is fading; the evening shadows grow long.
- Ps 143:6I stretch out my hands to You; my soul thirsts for You like a parched land. Selah
- Ps 119:131I open my mouth and pant, longing for Your commandments.
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 7:2 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.