As a servant earnestly desireth the shadow, and as an hireling looketh for the reward of his work:
Parallel translations
- WEB As a servant who earnestly desires the shadow, as a hireling who looks for his wages,
- BSB Like a slave he longs for shade; like a hireling he waits for his wages.
- 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 19:13Thou shalt not defraud thy neighbour, neither rob him: the wages of him that is hired shall not abide with thee all night until the morning.
- Deut 24:15At his day thou shalt give him his hire, neither shall the sun go down upon it; for he is poor, and setteth his heart upon it: lest he cry against thee unto the LORD, and it be sin unto thee.
- Mal 3:5And I will come near to you to judgment; and I will be a swift witness against the sorcerers, and against the adulterers, and against false swearers, and against those that oppress the hireling in his wages, the widow, and the fatherless, and that turn aside the stranger from his right, and fear not me, saith the LORD of hosts.
- Jas 5:4Behold, the hire of the labourers who have reaped down your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth: and the cries of them which have reaped are entered into the ears of the Lord of sabaoth.
- Jer 6:4Prepare ye war against her; arise, and let us go up at noon. Woe unto us! for the day goeth away, for the shadows of the evening are stretched out.
- Ps 143:6I stretch forth my hands unto thee: my soul thirsteth after thee, as a thirsty land. Selah.
- Ps 119:131I opened my mouth, and panted: for I longed for thy 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.