Now my days are swifter than a post: they flee away, they see no good.
Parallel translations
- WEB “Now my days are swifter than a runner. They flee away, they see no good.
- BSB My days are swifter than a runner; they flee without seeing good.
- NKJV “Now my days are swifter than a runner; They flee away, they see no good.
- NASB ¶“Now my days are swifter than a runner; They flee away, they see no good.
- NLT “My life passes more swiftly than a runner. It flees away without a glimpse of happiness.
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 returns to lamenting that his days race by faster than a runner, fleeing without any good. Life rushes toward its end joylessly.
Overview
Shifting from the problem of justice back to his own brevity, Job compares his fleeting days to a swift runner. His remaining time speeds past empty of good. This recurring theme of life's brevity (Job 7:6) underscores his urgency and despair, while quietly pressing toward the hope of a good that outlasts these fleeting days.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Job 7:6–7My days are swifter than a weaver’s shuttle, and are spent without hope.
- Jas 4:14Whereas ye know not what shall be on the morrow. For what is your life? It is even a vapour, that appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth away.
- Ps 90:9–10For all our days are passed away in thy wrath: we spend our years as a tale that is told.
- Ps 39:5Behold, thou hast made my days as an handbreadth; and mine age is as nothing before thee: verily every man at his best state is altogether vanity. Selah.
- Ps 89:47Remember how short my time is: wherefore hast thou made all men in vain?
- Ps 39:11When thou with rebukes dost correct man for iniquity, thou makest his beauty to consume away like a moth: surely every man is vanity. Selah.
- Esth 8:14So the posts that rode upon mules and camels went out, being hastened and pressed on by the king’s commandment. And the decree was given at Shushan the palace.
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 9:25 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.