I, too, have been assigned months of futility, long and weary nights of misery.
Parallel translations
- WEB so am I made to possess months of misery, wearisome nights are appointed to me.
- KJV So am I made to possess months of vanity, and wearisome nights are appointed to me.
- BSB So I am allotted months of futility, and nights of misery are appointed me.
- NKJV So I have been allotted months of futility, And wearisome nights have been appointed to me.
- NASB So I am allotted worthless months, And nights of trouble are apportioned to me.
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 says he has been allotted empty months and nights full of misery. He feels his suffering is measured out to him as an unwanted inheritance.
Overview
Continuing the laborer image, Job laments that instead of wages he has received only emptiness and wearisome, sleepless nights. The language of being 'made to possess' suggests his misery feels appointed, even sovereignly ordained. The book later affirms that God does govern Job's trial, though for purposes Job cannot yet see (Job 42).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 5
- Ps 6:6I am weary with my groaning. Every night I flood my bed. I drench my couch with my tears.
- Eccl 1:14I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and behold, all is vanity and a chasing after wind.
- Ps 39:5Behold, you have made my days hand widths. My lifetime is as nothing before you. Surely every man stands as a breath.” Selah.
- Job 16:7But now, God, you have surely worn me out. You have made desolate all my company.
- Job 29:2“Oh that I were as in the months of old, as in the days when God watched over me;
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 7:3 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.